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in  2019  with  funding  from 
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The  %  ssm 

Resurrection  of  Jesus 
an  Historical  Fact 


✓  By 

REV.  Z.  J.  ORDAL,  A.  B.,  C.  T. 


Minneapolis,  Minnesota 
Augsburg  Publishing  House 
1923 


Copyrighted,  1923,  by 
Augsburg  Publishing  House 
Minneapolis,  Minn. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction . 7 

Chapter  One.  The  Veracity  and  Credibility  of 

the  Apostles  .  9 

Chapter  Two.  The  Significance  of  the  Fact  That 

the  Apostles  Preached .  13 

Chapter  Three.  Direct  Testimony  of  the  Apos¬ 
tles  as  Preachers  .  18 

Chapter  Four.  The  Central  Position  of  Our 
Lord’s  Resurrection  in  the  Teachings  of  the 
Apostles .  30 

Chapter  Five.  The  Facts  on  Which  the  Assurance 

of  the  Eleven  Rested  .  39 

Chapter  Six.  Appearances  of  Jesus  with  a  Spe¬ 
cial  Import: 

I.  The  Reinstatement  of  Peter  to  Apos- 

tleship . 57 

II.  The  Eleven  Receive  Their  Mission.  ...  60 

III.  He  Departs  from  Them  with  His  Vis¬ 
ible  Presence  .  63 

Chapter  Seven.  The  Fact  on  Which  the  Assur¬ 
ance  of  Paul  Was  Based .  67 

Chapter  Eight.  Are  the  Facts  Considered  Suffi¬ 
cient  for  Us?  .  75 


Chapter  Nine.  Additional  Proofs  for  the  Resur¬ 
rection  of  Jesus: 

I.  The  Report  of  the  Guard  at  the  Grave  91 

II.  The  Rise  of  the  Christian  Church.  ...  92 

III.  The  Testimony  of  the  Christian  Church  99 

IV.  The  Testimony  of  the  Enemies .  104 

V.  Proofs  Deducible  from  the  Arguments 

of  Opponents  .  108 

VI.  The  Continued  Existence  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  Church .  119 

Conclusion .  126 


INTRODUCTION 


Did  Jesus  Christ  actually  arise  from  the 
dead?  Ever  since  that  first  Easter  Sunday 
some  have  answered  “No,”  others  have  an¬ 
swered  “Yes.”  During  the  Apostolic  age 
those  who  answered  “No”  were  the  declared 
enemies  of  Jesus.  Their  denial  of  the  resur¬ 
rection  did  not,  therefore,  have  so  great  an 
influence  on  the  believers  as  has  the  denial  of 
those  in  our  day  who  profess  admiration  and 
love  of  Jesus,  and  who  are  within  His  visible 
church.  If  those  who  deny  the  resurrection 
of  Jesus  deem  it  a  duty  to  spread  their  un¬ 
belief,  it  most  assuredly  is  a  duty  of  the  be¬ 
liever  to  profess  his  faith  and  to  show  that  it 
rests  on  the  everlasting  rock  of  truth. 

The  question  is  of  the  most  vital  importance. 
If  Jesus  truly  arose,  then  this  fact  is  not  only 
an  incontestable,  but  an  adequate  proof  of  the 
truth  of  the  other  fundamental  doctrines  of 
Christianity.  The  resurrection  of  our  Lord  is 
God’s  emphatic  declaration  that  Jesus  was 
what  He  professed  to  be,  and  that  He  actu¬ 
ally  performed  what  He  purposed  to  do.  If 


8 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


Jesus  did  not  arise,  this  proves  equally  incon¬ 
testably  that  Jesus  was  an  impostor.  His 
Word  cannot  be  relied  on;  He  definitely  stated 
that  He  should  arise  again  and  be  seen  by  His 
Apostles.  He  is  not  God,  as  He  claimed  to  be ; 
a  being  kept  captive  by  death  is  not  God.  He 
made  no  redemption  for  sin;  even  if  He  com¬ 
mitted  no  other  sin  than  to  claim  to  be  what  He 
was  not,  His  conviction  and  death  were  just 
according  to  Jewish  law.  Hence  He  made  no 
atonement  for  the  sins  of  fallen  man.  He  is, 
therefore,  not  the  Messiah  who  should  bruise 
the  head  of  the  serpent.  If  Jesus  remained 
in  the  grave,  the  “Serpent”  overcame  Him. 

If  Jesus  did  not  arise  from  the  dead ,  the 
Christian  religion  is  in  its  essential  purpose 
just  as  vain  and  just  as  valueless  as  the  other 
religions  of  the  world . 


CHAPTER  ONE 


THE  VERACITY  AND  CREDIBILITY  OF  THE 

APOSTLES 

As  our  belief  in  the  resurrection  of  Jesus 
rests  to  a  large  extent  on  the  testimony  of  His 
witnesses,  the  Apostles,  it  is  well  to  notice, 
tho  briefly,  what  kind  of  men  they  were, 
and  what  personal  advantage  they  might  gain 
thru  preaching  the  resurrection  of  Jesus. 

In  the  four  gospels  they  tell  us  of  their 
humble  origin  and  their  simple  occupation. 
They  admit  that  they  were  slow  to  compre¬ 
hend  their  Master’s  teachings;  that  they  were 
earthly  minded;  and  that  they  hoped  for  per¬ 
sonal  gain.  They  confess  to  fear,  to  faults, 
and  even  to  sins.  They  do  not  in  any  way 
pretend  to  greatness,  even  tho  they  were 
the  companions  of  Him  whom  they  confessed 
to  be  the  Son  of  the  living  God.  There  is  in 
all  they  say  about  themselves,  about  Jesus, 
and  about  others  a  frankness  and  honesty,  a 
humility  and  directness  which  only  those  have 
who  abhor  falsehood  and  reverence  truth.  In 


10 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


fact  we  see  them  as  humble,  Godfearing  men 
in  the  sense  of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures. 
F or  almost  three  years  they  had  been  the  con¬ 
stant  companions  of  Jesus.  Even  those  who 
deny  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  consider  Him 
an  exceedingly  moral  man;  a  man  who  hated 
not  only  lying  and  deceiving,  but  even  pre¬ 
tense  and  semblance.  The  association  with 
Jesus  must  have  helped  powerfully  to  imbue 
the  Apostles  with  a  holy  reverence  for  the 
truth.  And  we  know  that  the  threat  of  pun¬ 
ishment,  yes,  even  the  infliction  of  punishment 
could  not  swerve  them  from  the  truth.  No 
greater  test  for  truthfulness  can  be  required. 

Even  the  habitually  truthful  man  may  not 
at  all  times  be  entitled  to  belief.  F or  instance, 
should  great  glory  or  enormous  personal  gain 
become  his,  if  he  succeeds  in  getting  people 
to  believe  his  statements,  then  there  may  be 
valid  reasons  for  investigating  whether  or  not 
the  man’s  desire  for  glory  or  for  personal  gain 
has  overcome  his  veracity. 

What  personal  gain  or  what  glory  could  the 
Eleven  or  Paul  possibly  have  imagined  that 
they  would  reap  by  preaching  the  resurrection 
of  Jesus,  if  they  were  not  certain  that  He  ac¬ 
tually  had  risen?  Instead  of  gain,  they  suf- 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


11 


fered  loss;  instead  of  honor,  they  reaped  dis¬ 
honor  and  the  enmity  of  the  men  in  power 
within  church  and  state  of  their  own  nation. 
In  fact,  they  staked  their  very  lives  on  this 
testimony  concerning  Jesus.  They  did  this, 
not  merely  for  an  enthusiastic  day,  but  for 
many  long  and  weary  years,  even  until  death 
silenced  them.  It  was  evident  to  them  from 
the  beginning  what  their  lot  would  be. 

Is  there  a  single  fact  in  science,  or  another 
fact  in  history,  attested  to  by  men,  where  the 
testimony  to  the  truth  put  the  witnesses  to  so 
severe  a  test  for  so  long  a  time?  Yet  the 
Apostles  never  faltered! 

Did  they  have  the  mental  capacity  and  the 
sobriety  of  mind  necessary  to  distinguish  be¬ 
tween  an  historical  fact  and  an  illusion?  Any 
one  who  reads  the  speeches  and  letters  of  Pe¬ 
ter,  the  gospels  of  Matthew  and  John,  or  the 
letters  of  Paul  can  very  speedily  come  to  a 
conclusion  regarding  their  mental  capacity. 
And  those  who  suppose  them  emotional  en¬ 
thusiasts  should  notice  what  “infallible  proofs” 
were  necessary  before  they  were  convinced  of 
the  resurrection  of  their  Master.  They  should 
pay  attention  to  the  unity  and  consistency  of 
the  Apostolic  testimony,  given  under  various 


12 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


circumstances,  among  different  peoples,  and 
thruout  a  lifetime, — an  utter  impossibility 
had  they  not  been  sane  men  who  were  con¬ 
vinced  that  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  was  an 
historical  fact . 


CHAPTER  TWO 


THE  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  FACT  THAT  THE 
APOSTLES  PREACHED 

When  one  considers  the  situation  in  which 
the  Apostles  found  themselves  after  the  death 
of  Jesus,  both  with  respect  to  the  outward  sur¬ 
roundings  and  their  inner  feelings,  it  seems 
very  strange,  indeed,  that  they  did  not  entirely 
disappear  from  notice.  They  were  so  utterly 
confounded  by  the  occurrences  of  Good  Fri¬ 
day.  Their  fellow  Apostle,  Judas,  had  turned 
traitor.  Their  beloved  Master  was  com¬ 
pletely  overpowered  by  His  enemies  who 
hated  Him  with  a  terrible  hatred.  Jesus  Him¬ 
self  seemed  unable,  at  least  unwilling,  to  do 
anything  in  His  own  defense.  He  was  in  the 
hands  of  His  enemies  “as  a  lamb  brought  to 
the  slaughter”.  (Isa.  53:7.) 

While  the  intense  hatred  on  the  part  of 
high  priests,  rulers,  and  populace  had  been  di¬ 
rected  against  Jesus,  the  Apostles  could  not 
but  fear  that  it  would  be  directed  against  them 
also,  for  they  had  been  His  close  companions 


14 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


and  friends.  Hence  they  trembled  for  their 
own  safety.  They  were  utterly  beaten.  They 
could  not  defend  themselves,  and  they  had  no 
one  in  the  world  to  defend  them.  Had  not 
something  of  tremendous  significance  hap¬ 
pened,  something  that  turned  defeat  into  vic¬ 
tory,  the  only  reasonable  course  for  them  to 
pursue  must  have  been  to  disappear  from  the 
scene  as  quickly  and  as  quietly  as  possible, 
and  to  hide  themselves  from  friend  and  foe 
alike. 

As  to  preaching,  what  in  the  world  should 
they  have  preached,  if  Jesus  had  not  risen? 
Dwelling  fondly  on  the  memory  of  past  hopes 
and  aspirations,  they  could  at  most  have  said: 
“But  we  trusted  that  it  had  been  He  which 
should  have  redeemed  Israel.”  (Luke  24:  21.) 
No  one  will  risk  his  life  to  proclaim  what  he 
once  hoped! 

Before  His  Passion,  Jesus  did  not  give  His 
Apostles  any  command  about  what  they  were 
to  do,  when  He  no  longer  was  visibly  with 
them  as  master  and  guide.  The  records  show 
definitely  that  this  command  was  given  after 
His  resurrection  from  the  dead.  To  say  that 
their  faith  in  Him  as  the  Messiah  would  neces¬ 
sarily  impel  them  to  preach,  even  if  they  were 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


15 


not  expressly  commanded  to  do  so,  takes  for 
granted  that  their  faith  in  Him  would  sur¬ 
vive  the  tragedy  of  Good  Friday,  even  tho 
Jesus  did  not  arise  from  the  dead.  Is  it  rea¬ 
sonable  to  suppose  that  their  faith  would  thus 
survive?  The  two  disciples  who  journeyed  to 
Emmaus  Easter  Sunday  undoubtedly  ex¬ 
pressed  the  sentiments  of  all,  when  they  said, 
“But  we  trusted  that  it  had  been  he  which 
should  have  redeemed  Israel.”  This  state¬ 
ment  shows  a  spiritual  condition  far  from  that 
of  faith.  Continued  reflection  would  make 
matters  worse  for  the  reason  that  Jesus  had  on 
several  occasions  foretold  His  resurrection, 
and  promised  them  that  they  should  see  Him 
and  rejoice.  Instead  of  leading  them  to 
imagine  His  resurrection,  this  would  show 
them  that  He  had  been  mistaken;  thus  prov¬ 
ing  to  them  that  He  was  not  the  Messiah.  It 
must,  moreover,  be  evident  to  all  that  if  they 
believed  Him  the  Messiah,  they  could  not  pos¬ 
sibly  proclaim  that  He  had  risen  from  the 
dead  on  the  third  day,  when  He  as  far  as  they 
knew  continued  dead  with  the  body  in  the 
grave. 

Furthermore.  The  Apostles  began  their 
preaching  in  Jerusalem  itself.  It  was  not 


16 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


in  some  remote  corner  of  the  land,  where  the 
facts  could  not  be  investigated;  nor  was  it 
in  some  ignorant  community,  where  they 
might  have  hoped  for  the  aid  of  superstition 
and  the  love  of  the  marvelous,  but  in  Jeru¬ 
salem:  where  Jesus  was  put  to  death;  where 
He  was  buried;  where  He  arose  again.  Yes, 
they  began  their  preaching  practically  at  once 
right  in  the  temple,  where  the  learned  and 
powerful  enemies  had  full  power!  The 
Apostles  knew  that  the  facts  were  on  their 
side.  They  did  not  fear  an  investigation,  but 
courted  it  in  the  very  city  where  all  had  hap¬ 
pened;  where  there  was  an  abundance  of  men 
who  had  the  will,  the  intelligence,  and  the 
means  to  make  a  thoro  investigation. 

The  very  fact,  therefore,  that  the  Apostles 
preached,  and  that  they  preached  in  Jeru¬ 
salem,  shows  most  emphatically  that  some¬ 
thing  had  happened  which  transformed  the 
deadening  sorrow  of  Good  Friday  into  exuber¬ 
ant  joy,  and  which  turned  the  crushing  de¬ 
feat  of  that  day  into  the  most  complete  and 
glorious  victory!  Nothing  less  than  the  resur¬ 
rection  of  Jesus  on  the  third  day  could  do  this. 
So' the  fact  that  the  Apostles  preached  bears 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


17 


identically  the  same  testimony  which  their 
message  bears;  namely,  Jesus  is  truly  risen 
from  the  dead. 


CHAPTER  THREE 


THE  DIRECT  TESTIMONY  TO  THE  RESURRECTION 
BY  THE  APOSTLES  AS  PREACHERS 

This  chapter  does  not  deal  with  the  testi¬ 
mony  to  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  given  in  the 
four  Gospels  and  in  Acts  1 :  1-12.  That  will 
be  treated  in  later  chapters.  Here  is  gathered 
the  direct  and  definite  testimony  to  the  great 
fact,  given  by  the  Apostles  in  their  preaching 
as  recorded  by  St.  Luke  in  the  Acts,  and  as  it 
is  found  in  the  Apostolic  letters  to  congrega¬ 
tions  and  private  persons.  To  help  make  sure 
that  the  reader  will  study  it,  notice  its  clear¬ 
ness,  definiteness,  as  well  as  its  extensity,  it 
is  gathered  here  for  the  convenience  of  the 
reader.  It  must  also  be  borne  in  mind  that,  be¬ 
sides  this  direct  testimony,  the  books  of  the 
New  Testament  have  an  abundance  of  pas¬ 
sages  which  take  for  granted  the  acceptance  of 
the  resurrection  as  a  fact. 

Acts  1:21,  22:  Wherefore  of  these  men 
which  have  companied  with  us  all  the  time  that 
the  Lord  Jesus  went  in  and  out  among  us,  be- 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


19 


ginning  from  the  baptism  of  John,  unto  that 
same  day  that  he  was  taken  up  from  us,  must 
one  be  ordained  to  be  a  witness  with  us  of  his 
resurrection. 

Acts  2 :  23,  24 :  Him,  being  delivered  by  the 
determinate  counsel  and  foreknowledge  of 
God,  ye  have  taken,  and  by  wicked  hands  have 
crucified  and  slain:  Whom  God  hath  raised 
up,  having  loosed  the  pains  of  death:  because 
it  was  not  possible  that  He  should  be  holden 
of  it. 

Acts  2:31,  32:  He  seeing  this  before  spake 
of  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  that  His  soul  was 
not  left  in  hell,  neither  did  His  flesh  see  cor¬ 
ruption.  This  Jesus  hath  God  raised  up, 
whereof  we  all  are  witnesses. 

Acts  3:  14,  15,  26:  But  ye  denied  the  Holy 
One  and  the  Just,  and  desired  a  murderer  to 
be  granted  unto  you;  and  killed  the  Prince  of 
life,  whom  God  hath  raised  from  the  dead; 
whereof  we  are  witnesses.  Unto  you  first  God, 
having  raised  up  His  Son  Jesus,  sent  Him  to 
bless  you,  in  turning  away  every  one  of  you 
from  His  iniquities. 

Acts  4:10:  Be  it  known  unto  you  all,  and 
to  all  the  people  of  Israel,  that  by  the  name  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  whom  ye  crucified,  whom 


20 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


God  raised  from  the  dead,  even  by  Him  doth 
this  man  stand  here  before  you  whole. 

Acts  4 :  33 :  And  with  great  power  gave  the 
apostles  witness  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
Lord  Jesus:  and  great  grace  was  upon  them 
all. 

Acts  5 :  30 :  The  God  of  our  fathers  raised 
up  Jesus,  whom  ye  slew  and  hanged  on  a  tree. 

Acts  10:39-41:  And  we  are  witnesses  of 
all  things  which  He  did  both  in  the  land  of  the 
Jews,  and  in  Jerusalem;  whom  they  slew  and 
hanged  on  a  tree:  Him  God  raised  up  the 
third  day,  and  shewed  him  openly;  not  to  all 
the  people,  but  unto  witnesses  chosen  before 
of  God,  even  to  us,  who  did  eat  and  drink  with 
Him  after  He  rose  from  the  dead. 

Acts  13 :  29-37 :  And  when  they  had  ful¬ 
filled  all  that  was  written  of  Him,  they  took 
Him  down  from  the  tree,  and  laid  Him  in  a 
sepulchre.  But  God  raised  Him  from  the 
dead:  and  He  was  seen  many  days  of  them 
which  came  up  with  Him  from  Galilee  to  Je¬ 
rusalem,  who  are  His  witnesses  unto  the  peo¬ 
ple.  And  we  declare  unto  you  glad  tidings, 
how  that  the  promise  which  was  made  unto 
the  fathers,  God  hath  fulfilled  the  same  unto 
us  their  children,  in  that  He  hath  raised  up 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


21 


Jesus  again;  as  it  is  also  written  in  the  second 
Psalm,  Thou  art  my  Son,  this  day  have  I  be¬ 
gotten  Thee.  And  as  concerning  that  He 
raised  Him  up  from  the  dead,  now  no  more 
to  return  to  corruption,  He  said  on  this  wise, 
I  will  give  you  the  sure  mercies  of  David. 
Wherefore  He  saith  also  in  another  Psalm, 
Thou  shalt  not  suffer  Thine  Holy  One  to  see 
corruption.  For  David,  after  he  had  served 
his  own  generation  by  the  will  of  God,  fell  on 
sleep,  and  was  laid  unto  his  fathers,  and  saw 
corruption.  But  He,  whom  God  raised  up 
again,  saw  no  corruption. 

Acts  17:2,  3:  And  Paul,  as  his  manner 
was,  went  in  unto  them,  and  three  Sabbath 
days  reasoned  with  them  out  of  the  Scriptures, 
opening  and  alleging,  that  Christ  must  needs 
have  suffered,  and  risen  again  from  the  dead; 
and  that  this  Jesus,  whom  I  preach  unto  you, 
is  Christ. 

Acts  17 :  30,  31 :  And  the  times  of  this  ig¬ 
norance  God  winked  at ;  but  now  commandeth 
all  men  every  where  to  repent:  Because  He 
hath  appointed  a  day,  in  the  which  He  will 
judge  the  world  in  righteousness  by  that  man 
whom  He  hath  ordained;  whereof  He  hath 


22 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


given  assurance  unto  all  men,  in  that  He  hath 
raised  Him  from  the  dead. 

Acts  26:  22,  23:  Having  therefore  obtained 
help  of  God,  I  continue  unto  this  day,  witness¬ 
ing  both  to  small  and  great,  saying  none  other 
things  than  those  which  the  prophets  and  Mo¬ 
ses  did  say  should  come:  That  Christ  should 
suffer,  and  that  He  should  be  ihe  first  that 
should  rise  from  the  dead,  and  should  shew 
light  unto  the  people,  and  to  the  Gentiles. 

Rom.  1:3,  4:  Concerning  His  Son  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord,  which  was  made  of  the  seed  of 
David  according  to  the  flesh;  and  declared  to 
be  the  Son  of  God  with  power,  according  to  the 
spirit  of  holiness,  by  the  resurrection  from  the 
dead. 

Rom.  4 :  23-25 :  But  for  us  also,  to  whom  it 
shall  be  imputed,  if  we  believe  in  Him  that 
raised  up  Jesus  our  Lord  from  the  dead:  Who 
was  delivered  for  our  offences,  and  was  raised 
again  for  our  justification. 

Rom.  6 :  4,  5 :  Therefore  we  are  buried  with 
Him  by  baptism  into  death :  that  like  as  Christ 
was  raised  up  from  the  dead  by  the  glory  of 
the  Father,  even  so  we  also  should  walk  in 
newness  of  life.  For  if  we  have  been  planted 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


23 


together  in  the  likeness  of  His  death,  we  shall 
be  also  in  the  likeness  of  His  resurrection. 

Rom.  6:9,  10:  Knowing  that  Christ  being 
raised  from  the  dead  dieth  no  more ;  death  hath 
no  more  dominion  over  Him.  For  in  that  He 
died;  He  died  unto  sin  once:  but  in  that  He 
liveth,  He  liveth  unto  God. 

Rom.  7:4:  Wherefore,  my  brethren,  ye 
also  are  become  dead  to  the  law  by  the  body 
of  Christ;  that  ye  should  be  married  to  an¬ 
other,  even  to  Him  who  is  raised  from  the 
dead,  that  we  should  bring  forth  fruit  unto 
God. 

Rom.  8:  11,  34:  But  if  the  spirit  of  Him 
that  raised  up  Jesus  from  the  dead  dwell  in 
you,  He  that  raised  up  Christ  from  the  dead 
shall  also  quicken  your  mortal  bodies  by  His 
spirit  that  dwelleth  in  you.  Who  is  He  that 
condemneth?  It  is  Christ  that  died,  yea  rather, 
that  is  risen  again,  who  is  even  at  the  right 
hand  of  God,  who  also  maketh  intercession  for 
us. 

Rom.  14:9:  For  to  this  end  Christ  both 
died,  and  rose,  and  revived,  that  He  might  be 
Lord  both  of  the  dead  and  living. 

Rom.  10:  9:  That  if  thou  shalt  confess  with 
thy  mouth  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  shalt  believe 


24 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


in  thine  heart  that  God  hath  raised  Him  from 
the  dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved. 

I  Cor.  6:  14:  And  God  hath  both  raised  up 
the  Lord,  and  will  also  raise  up  us  by  His  own 
power. 

I  Cor.  15:3-8:  For  I  delivered  unto  you 
first  of  all  that  which  I  also  received,  how  that 
Christ  died  for  our  sins  according  to  the  Scrip¬ 
tures;  And  that  He  was  buried,  and  that  He 
rose  again  the  third  day  according  to  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  :  And  that  He  was  seen  of  Cephas,  then 
of  the  twelve:  After  that  He  was  seen  of 
above  five  hundred  brethren  at  once ;  of  whom 
the  greater  part  remain  unto  this  present,  but 
some  are  fallen  asleep.  After  that  He  was 
seen  of  James;  then  of  all  the  apostles.  And 
last  of  all  He  was  seen  of  me  also,  as  of  one 
born  out  of  due  time. 

I  Cor.  15: 12-20:  Now  if  Christ  be  preached 
that  He  rose  from  the  dead,  how  say  some 
among  you  that  there  is  no  resurrection  of  the 
dead?  But  if  there  be  no  resurrection  of  the 
dead,  then  is  Christ  not  risen:  And  if  Christ 
be  not  risen,  then  is  our  preaching  vain,  and 
your  faith  is  also  vain.  Yea,  and  we  are  found 
false  witnesses  of  God;  because  we  have  testi¬ 
fied  of  God  that  He  raised  up  Christ:  whom 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


25 


He  raised  not  up,  if  so  be  that  the  dead  rise 
not.  For  if  the  dead  rise  not,  then  is  not 
Christ  raised:  And  if  Christ  be  not  raised,  your 
faith  is  vain;  ye  are  yet  in  your  sins.  Then 
they  also  which  are  fallen  asleep  in  Christ  are 
perished.  If  in  this  life  only  we  have  hope 
in  Christ,  we  are  of  all  men  most  miserable. 
But  now  is  Christ  risen  from  the  dead,  and  be¬ 
come  the  first  fruits  of  them  that  slept. 

II  Cor.  4:14:  Knowing  that  He  which 
raised  up  the  Lord  Jesus  shall  raise  up  us  also 
by  Jesus,  and  shall  present  us  with  you. 

Gal.  1:1:  Paul,  an  apostle  (not  of  men, 
neither  by  man,  but  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  God 
the  Father,  who  raised  Him  from  the  dead). 

Ephesians  1 :  20-23 :  Which  He  wrought 
in  Christ,  when  He  raised  Him  from  the  dead, 
and  set  Him  at  His  own  right  hand  in  the 
heavenly  places,  far  above  all  principality,  and 
power,  and  might,  and  dominion,  and  every 
name  that  is  named,  not  only  in  this  world,  but 
also  in  that  which  is  to  come:  And  hath  put 
all  things  under  His  feet,  and  gave  Him  to 
be  head  over  all  things  to  the  Church,  which 
is  His  body,  the  fulness  of  Him  that  filleth  all 
in  all. 

Philippians  3:9-11:  And  be  found  in  Him, 


26 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


not  having  mine  own  righteousness,  which  is 
of  the  law,  but  that  which  is  thru  the  faith 
of  Christ,  the  righteousness  which  is  of  God 
by  faith:  That  I  may  know  Him,  and  the 
power  of  His  resurrection,  and  the  fellowship 
of  His  sufferings,  being  made  conformable 
unto  His  death:  If  by  any  means  I  might  at¬ 
tain  unto  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 

Colossians  1:18:  And  He  is  the  head  of 
the  body,  the  Church:  who  is  the  beginning, 
the  firstborn  from  the  dead;  that  in  all  things 
He  might  have  the  preeminence. 

Colossians  2:12:  Buried  with  Him  in  bap¬ 
tism,  wherein  also  ye  are  risen  with  Him  thru 
the  faith  of  the  operation  of  God,  who  hath 
raised  Him  from  the  dead. 

Colossians  3:1:  If  then  ye  be  risen  with 
Christ,  seek  those  things  which  are  above, 
where  Christ  sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of  God. 

I  Thessalonians  1 :  10:  And  to  wait  for  His 
Son  from  heaven,  whom  He  raised  from  the 
dead,  even  Jesus,  which  delivered  us  from  the 
wrath  to  come. 

I  Thessalonians  4:14:  For  if  we  believe 
that  Jesus  died  and  rose  again,  even  so  them 
also  which  sleep  in  Jesus  will  God  bring  with 
Him. 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


27 


II  Timothy  2:8:  Remember  that  Jesus 
Christ  of  the  seed  of  David  was  raised  from 
the  dead  according  to  my  Gospel : 

Hebrews  13:20,  21:  Now  the  God  of 
peace,  that  brought  again  from  the  dead  our 
Lord  Jesus,  that  great  shepherd  of  the  sheep, 
thru  the  blood  of  the  everlasting  covenant, 
make  you  perfect  in  every  good  work  to  do 
His  will,  working  in  you  that  which  is  well¬ 
pleasing  in  His  sight,  thru  Jesus  Christ;  to 
whom  be  glory  for  ever  and  ever.  Amen. 

I  Peter  1:3:  Blessed  be  the  God  and 
Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  ac¬ 
cording  to  His  abundant  mercy  hath  begot¬ 
ten  us  again  unto  a  lively  hope  by  the  resur¬ 
rection  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead. 

I  Peter  1:  18-21:  Forasmuch  as  ye  know 
that  ye  were  not  redeemed  with  corruptible 
things,  as  silver  and  gold,  from  your  vain  con¬ 
versation  received  by  tradition  from  your 
fathers;  but  by  the  precious  blood  of  Christ, 
as  of  a  lamb  without  blemish  and  without  spot : 
Who  verily  was  foreordained  before  the  foun¬ 
dation  of  the  world,  but  was  manifest  in  these 
last  times  for  you,  who  by  Him  do  believe  in 
God,  that  raised  Him  up  from  the  dead,  and 


28 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


gave  Him  glory;  that  your  faith  and  hope 
might  be  in  God. 

I  Peter  3:  18-21 :  For  Christ  also  hath  once 
suffered  for  sins,  the  just  for  the  unjust,  that 
He  might  bring  us  to  God,  being  put  to  death 
in  the  flesh,  but  quickened  by  the  spirit:  By 
which  He  also  went  and  preached  unto  the 
spirits  in  prison;  which  sometime  were  dis¬ 
obedient,  when  once  the  longsuffering  of  God 
waited  in  the  days  of  Noah,  while  the  ark  was 
a  preparing,  wherein  few,  that  is,  eight  souls 
were  saved  by  water.  The  like  figure  where- 
unto  even  baptism  doth  also  now  save  us  (not 
the  putting  away  of  the  filth  of  the  flesh,  but 
the  answer  of  a  good  conscience  toward  God ) , 
by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ: 

Revelation  1:5,  18:  And  from  Jesus  Christ, 
who  is  the  faithful  witness,  and  the  firstbegot- 
ten  of  the  dead,  and  the  prince  of  the  kings 
of  the  earth.  Unto  Him  that  loved  us,  and 
washed  us  from  our  sins  in  His  own  blood. 
I  am  He  that  liveth,  and  was  dead;  and  be¬ 
hold,  I  am  alive  for  evermore,  Amen;  and  have 
the  keys  of  hell  and  of  death. 

The  only  books  of  the  New  Testament — the 
Gospels  excepted — from  which  I  have  not 
quoted  direct  testimony  to  the  resurrection  of 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


29 


Jesus  are  the  following:  II  Thessalonians, 
I  Timothy,  Titus,  Philemon,  James,  I,  II,  and 
III  John,  and  Jude.  Any  one  who  takes  the 
trouble  to  read  these  books,  will  find  that  they 
all,  excepting  III  John  and  Jude,  make  def¬ 
inite  statements  which  show  that  the  writer 
took  for  granted  that  the  readers  believed  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus  to  be  a  fact. 

The  nature  of  III  John  explains  why  the 
fact  of  Christ’s  resurrection  does  not  appear 
there.  And  as  Jude  so  insistently  warns  his 
readers  against  departing  from  the  doctrines, 
taught  by  the  Apostles,  he  thereby  warns  them 
against  unbelief  in  the  resurrection  of  Jesus. 

What  unanimity  in  the  teachings  of  all  the 
Apostles,  of  whose  teachings  we  have  any 
record!  What  consistency  in  their  testimony 
thruout  their  whole  ministry !  Such  unanimity 
and  consistency  in  the  testimony  of  men  who 
for  years  were  separated  from  one  another; 
who  labored  in  different  countries;  and  who 
preached  to  audiences  differing  widely  in  cul¬ 
ture  and  in  religious  beliefs,  can  be  understood 
only  when  we  accept  that  they  testified  to  a 
definite  and  an  actual  fact,  when  they  testi¬ 
fied  to  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  from  the  dead. 


CHAPTER  FOUR 

THE  CENTRAL  POSITION  OF  OUR  LORD^S  RESUR¬ 
RECTION  IN  THE  TEACHING  OF 
THE  APOSTLES 

The  two  outstanding  figures  in  preaching 
and  spreading  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  are 
Peter  and  Paul.  That  each  was  given  a  spe¬ 
cial  field  in  which  to  work,  was  recognized  by 
the  other  Apostles  as  we  see  from  Galatians 
2:7-9.  This  is  also  historically  evident  from 
the  book  of  Acts.  Peter  was  Christ’s  standard 
bearer  among  the  Jews,  Paul  among  the  Gen¬ 
tiles. 

In  looking  over  the  testimony  quoted  in  the 
preceding  chapter  with  the  purpose  of  finding 
out  the  importance  claimed  for  the  fact  of  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus,  we  notice  how  Peter 
in  his  addresses  lays  great  stress  on  this  that 
the  Apostles  were  to  be  witnesses  of  Christ’s 
resurrection.  (Acts  1:  22;  2:  32;  3:  15.) 

Just  before  ascending  into  heaven,  Jesus 
had  said  to  His  Apostles:  “Ye  shall  be  wit¬ 
nesses  unto  me  both  in  Jerusalem,  and  in  all 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


31 


Judea,  and  in  Samaria,  and  unto  the  utter¬ 
most  part  of  the  earth.”  (Acts  1:  7.)  From 
Acts  10:39  we  see  that  Peter  recognized  the 
obligation  to  be  a  witness  of  all  the  things 
which  Jesus  did.  And  yet  it  is  clearly  evident 
that  Peter  considered  it  especially  important 
to  bear  testimony  to  Christ’s  resurrection,  for 
it  is  the  only  fact  concerning  Jesus  which  he 
specifically  mentions  as  something  concerning 
which  they  are  to  testify  to  as  witnesses. 

The  truth  of  this  statement  is  proven  by 
Peter’s  words,  when  he  states  the  purpose  for 
selecting  a  man  to  take  the  place  of  Judas. 
True,  only  those  are  eligible  who  had  been  with 
them  from  the  baptism  of  John  until  the  ascen¬ 
sion.  The  candidate  must  have  personal 
knowledge  of  all  Jesus  said  and  did  during 
His  whole  ministry.  However,  the  one  point 
which  is  emphasized,  and  that  to  a  degree  one 
would  not  expect,  is  the  resurrection.  He 
says:  “Wherefore  of  these  men  which  have 
companied  with  us  all  the  time  that  the  Lord 
Jesus  went  in  and  out  among  us,  beginning 
from  the  baptism  of  John,  unto  that  same  day 
that  He  was  taken  up  from  us,  must  one  be 
ordained  to  be  a  witness  of  His  resurrection.” 


32 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


(Acts  1:  21,  22.)  Notice!  To  be  a  witness  of 
His  resurrection . 

They  were  to  be  witnesses,  that  is  testify 
as  men  who  had  personal  knowledge  of  the 
fact;  not  knowledge  based  on  report,  but 
knowledge  arrived  at  thru  the  rational  use  of 
their  senses.  This  is  naturally  the  meaning 
Paul  ascribes  to  the  term  “witness”  when  in 
his  speech  at  Antioch  in  Pisidia  he  says:  “But 
God  raised  Him  from  the  dead:  and  He  was 
seen  many  days  of  them  which  came  up  with 
Him  from  Galilee  to  Jerusalem,  who  are  His 
witnesses  unto  the  people.”  (Acts  13:  30-31.) 

This  idea  John  expressed  as  follows:  “That 
which  was  from  the  beginning,  which  we  have 
heard,  which  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes,  which 
we  have  looked  upon,  and  our  hands  have 
handled  .  .  .  that  which  we  have  seen  and 
heard  declare  we  unto  you  ....  (I  John 
1:  1-3.) 

It  is  not  fanciful  notions,  or  hearsay,  or 
speculations,  they  testify  to  as  witnesses,  but 
to  facts  belonging  to  this  world  of  sight,  touch, 
and  hearing.  Facts  with  which  they  them - 
selves  as  rational ,  sentient  beings  are  person¬ 
ally  acquainted . 

Of  all  the  great  and  wonderful  facts  which 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


33 


they  experienced  during  their  three  years’ 
companionship  with  Jesus,  Peter  mentions 
only  one  by  name,  when  he  speaks  about  their 
duty  as  witnesses.  This  fact  he  mentions  re¬ 
peatedly,  thus  throwing  it  into  bold  relief  as 
a  mountain  peak  before  the  tinted  sky  of  sun¬ 
set.  And  this  fact  is  the  resurrection  of  Jesus 
from  the  dead. 

*  *•  * 

What  importance  does  the  Apostle  Paul 
ascribe  to  the  resurrection  of  Jesus?  From  the 
record  of  his  sermon  in  Antioch  of  Pisidia  on 
his  first  missionary  journey  we  see  (Acts  13: 
33-35)  that,  in  preaching  to  an  audience  com¬ 
posed  mainly  of  Jews,  he  lays  stress  on  the 
fact  that  tho  Christ’s  death  and  resurrection 
were  at  variance  with  their  views  of  the  Mes¬ 
siah,  it  was  in  perfect  accord  with  the  teach¬ 
ings  of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  con¬ 
cerning  Him.  He  does  the  same  at  Thessa- 
lonica  on  his  second  missionary  journey  sev¬ 
eral  years  later.  (Acts  17:2,  3.)  Again, 
many  years  later  he  does  likewise  in  his  defense 
before  King  Agrippa  at  Caesarea.  (Acts  26: 
22,  23.)  From  the  third  and  fourth  verse  of 
the  fifteenth  chapter  of  his  first  letter  to  the 


34> 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


Corinthians  we  see  that  he  had  done  so  at 
Corinth.  His  words  are:  “For  I  delivered 
unto  you  first  of  all  that  which  I  also  received, 
how  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins  according  to 
the  Scriptures;  that  He  was  buried,  and  that 
He  rose  again  the  third  day  according  to  the 
Scriptures.” 

Every  one  must  see  the  great  importance  of 
the  fact  that  Jesus  conforms,  especially  in  that 
which  seems  strange  and  unreasonable,  to  the 
picture  painted  of  the  Messiah  in  the  Old  Tes¬ 
tament  Scriptures.  The  fact  that  He  so  con¬ 
forms  proves  Him  the  Messiah. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  as  well  as  dis¬ 
tinguishing  features  of  the  Christian  religion 
is  its  firm  assurance  of  a  life  after  death  for 
each  person.  It  does  not  present  an  unreal 
and  shadowy  existence,  but  a  real  life;  not  a 
life  of  the  soul  only,  but  a  life  of  the  whole 
human  being;  for  on  judgment  day  body  and 
soul  shall  be  reunited  forever.  The  unbeliever 
shall,  indeed,  be  damned,  but  he  who  accepts 
Christ  in  a  living  faith  shall  live  with  Him 
in  the  most  complete  bliss  thru  all  eternity. 
This  is  life  and  immortality.  It  is  Christ  who 
has  brought  to  light  this  life  and  this  immor¬ 
tality.  (II  Tim.  1:10.) 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


35 


In  several  of  the  passages  quoted  from  Paul 
in  the  preceding  chapter,  he  emphasizes  the 
fact  that  this  life  is  absolutely  dependent  on 
Christ’s  resurrection.  The  one  stands  or  falls 
with  the  other.  And  as  Christ’s  resurrection  is 
a  fact,  so  shall  our  resurrection  become  a  fact. 
This  is  pointedly  brought  out  in  I  Cor.  15: 
12-20. 

This  same  passage  states  another  point  with 
equal  emphasis.  It  is  this :  Preaching  is  vain , 
faith  is  vain,  the  Christian  is  among  men  the 
most  miserable ,  if  Christ  is  not  risen  from  the 
dead.  (Was  Paul  near  enough  to  the  source 
of  Christianity  to  know  its  nature?  Was  his 
intellectual  discernment  and  his  spiritual  ca¬ 
pacity  sufficient  to  grasp  the  truth?)  Were 
not  Christ  risen  from  the  dead;  we  Christians 
would  be  the  most  miserable  of  all  men !  God 
be  praised!  He  adds  with  absolute  certainty: 
“but  now  Christ  is  risen  from  the  dead,  and  be¬ 
come  the  firstfruits  of  them  that  slept.”  (1 
Cor.  15:  20.) 

Tho  the  truth  and  the  saving  power  of 
Christianity  is  established  by  the  resurrection 
of  Jesus  Christ,  Paul  shows  that  it  is  neces¬ 
sary  for  the  individual  to  accept  this  truth,  if 
he  is  to  become  a  partaker  of  what  Christ  won 


36 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


with  His  life,  suffering,  and  death,  and  sealed 
with  His  resurrection.  “If  thou  shalt  confess 
with  thy  mouth  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  shalt  be¬ 
lieve  in  thine  heart  that  God  hath  raised  Him 
from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved.”  (Rom. 
10:  9.) 

Jesus  was  condemned  to  death  by  the  Jew¬ 
ish  ecclesiastical  authorities  because  He 
claimed  to  be  the  Son  of  God  in  a  literal  sense. 
Paul  teaches  (Rom.  1:4)  that  Jesus  was 
powerfully  declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God  by 
His  resurrection  from  the  dead.  Had  not 
Jesus  been  the  Son  of  God  as  He  under  oath 
had  said  that  He  was  (Matt.  26:  63,  64),  He 
would  not  have  risen.  Death  would  have  kept 
Him  captive,  for  the  wages  of  sin  is  death. 
His  resurrection  from  the  dead  is  an  emphatic 
declaration  on  the  part  of  God, — in  fact,  the 
most  emphatic  declaration  imaginable, — to  the 
absolute  truth  of  Christ’s  claim.  That  the 
resurrection  from  the  dead  was  an  unavoidable 
necessity,  since  Jesus  was  the  Son  of  God,  is 
the  thought  which  lies  in  the  statement  of  Pe¬ 
ter  on  Pentecost  Sunday,  when  he  says  that 
it  was  impossible  that  death  should  hold  Him. 
(Acts  2:  24.) 

As  the  Son  of  God,  Jesus  must  rise  from 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


37 


the  grave.  If  He  did  not  so  arise,  He  was  not 
only  an  impostor,  but  a  perjurer;  one  who 
perjured  Himself  on  the  very  day  of  His 
death,  and  thus  caused  His  death. 

How  natural  is  it  not,  therefore,  that  the 
enemies  of  Jesus  should  so  strenuously  deny 
His  resurrection?  But  how  can  one  who 
claims  to  be  a  Christian,  a  disciple,  a  follower 
of  Jesus,  join  in  with  the  enemies  and  deny 
His  resurrection?  What  would  we  in  the  late 
war  have  called  a  man  who,  while  claiming  the 
right  to  be  a  soldier  in  our  army  at  the  front, 
and  who  as  a  consequence  held  a  position  of 
great  trust,  nevertheless  joined  in  with  the 
enemy  in  attacking  our  most  important 
strategic  position !  What  would  we  have 
called  him?  How  would  we  have  dealt  with 
him  ?  What  work  within  the  Christian  Church 
is  actually  performed  by  the  man  who  denies 
the  resurrection  of  Jesus,  tho  claiming  to  be 
a  Christian?  Be  he  a  pastor  of  a  congregation, 
an  editor  of  a  church  paper,  a  professor  in  a 
church  college  or  theological  seminary?  Can 
he  have  any  other  work  to  perform  than  the 
work  of  a  traitor?  The  church  compels  no  one 
to  accept  its  faith;  and  there  surely  is  room 
among  the  open  and  avowed  enemies  of  Jesus! 


38 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


When  he,  who  has  the  spirit  of  the  enemy, 
nevertheless  continues  within  the  fold  of  the 
church,  eats  its  bread  and  enjoys  its  privileges, 
is  it  not  because  he  has  the  shriveled,  dishonest, 
and  vicious  soul  of  the  traitor? 


CHAPTER  FIVE 


THE  FACTS  ON  WHICH  THE  ASSURANCE  OF  THE 

ELEVEN  RESTED 

We  have  in  the  preceding  chapter  seen  that 
the  Apostles,  when  speaking  of  the  historical 
facts  concerning  Jesus,  hold  up  His  resurrec¬ 
tion  from  the  dead  as  the  one  most  prominent. 
Nor  are  they  uncertain  or  hesitating  in  their 
manner  of  presenting  this  fact.  They  are 
clear,  definite,  absolutely  certain. 

The  facts  on  which  their  assurance  rested 
are  recorded  by  Matthew,  chapter  28;  Mark, 
chapter  16;  Luke,  chapter  24;  John,  chapters 
20  and  21 ;  Acts  1 : 1-12. 

In  giving  the  facts  pertaining  to  the  resur¬ 
rection  of  Jesus,  the  sacred  writers  follow 
their  usual  custom  of  using  exceedingly  great 
brevity.  As  each  one  is  independent  in  his 
presentation,  and  as  none  of  them  tells  all  the 
events,  it  is  not  surprising  that  one  narrates 
facts  not  mentioned  by  the  others.  To  dovetail 
the  four  presentations  together  into  one  nar¬ 
rative,  so  that  the  different  events  are  placed 


40 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


in  their  exact  chronological  order,  is  very  diffi¬ 
cult.  It  is,  in  fact,  impossible  with  respect  to 
certain  details.  The  main  facts,  however, 
stand  out  very  clearly.  No  one  who  reads  the 
Evangelists  with  an  unprejudiced  mind  will 
be  led  to  disbelieve  their  statements  because  he 
is  unable,  lacking  the  necessary  knowledge,  to 
arrange  all  the  details  properly. 

I  now  ask  the  kind  reader  to  take  his  Bible 
or  New  Testament  and  to  read  several  times 
with  care  the  report  of  the  resurrection  of  our 
Lord,  as  given  by  each  Evangelist  (see  refer¬ 
ences  above),  and  then  continue  the  reading 
of  this  and  the  following  chapter. 

In  the  morning  of  the  third  day  after  the 
crucifixion  of  Jesus,  the  Apostles  were  aston¬ 
ished  and  distressed  by  the  report  that  the 
grave  of  Jesus  was  empty.  This  report,  first 
brought  by  Mary  Magdalene,  was  confirmed 
immediately  afterwards  by  the  other  women, 
who  had  visited  the  grave  early  in  the  morn¬ 
ing.  Peter  and  John,  forgetting  their  fear  for 
personal  safety,  immediately  rushed  to  the 
grave  in  order  to  make  personal  investigations 
regarding  the  truth  of  the  report.  They  en¬ 
tered  the  grave  and  found  the  linen  clothes, 
in  which  the  body  had  been  wound,  lying  there, 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


41 


and  the  napkin,  which  had  been  about  His 
head,  wrapped  together  in  a  place  by  itself 
(John  20:  1-7),  but  the  body  of  the  Lord  was 
not  there.  It  was  gone.  The  grave  was  empty 
as  the  women  had  reported.  This  was  an  in¬ 
disputable  fact.  They  reported  to  the  other 
Apostles  and  disciples  what  they  had  found. 
(Luke  24:  24.) 

What  had  become  of  Christ’s  body?  Who 
could  desire  to  steal  it?  What  did  it  mean 
that  the  grave  was  empty?  These  and  many 
other  questions  were  no  doubt  asked  and  dis¬ 
cussed.  If  they  were  ignorant  of  the  fact  that 
the  enemies  had  caused  the  grave  to  be  sealed 
and  a  guard  of  Roman  soldiers  stationed  there, 
they  no  doubt,  soon  received  a  report  of  this 
as  well  as  of  the  story  some  of  these  soldiers 
were  spreading,  saying  that  the  disciples  of 
Jesus  came  and  stole  the  body,  while  the  guard 
was  asleep.  (Matt.  28:  11-15.)  This  report 
probably  increased  their  fear,  but  it  certainly 
did  not  explain  how  the  grave  became  empty, 
nor  did  it  tell  them  what  had  become  of  the 
body.  On  the  contrary,  it  made  matters  worse. 
Now  they  knew  that  Christ’s  enemies  had 
taken  all  the  precautions  possible  to  keep  the 
body  in  the  grave.  Therefore,  the  enemies  had 


42 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


not  stolen  the  body.  As  to  the  report  of  these 
soldiers  that  the  disciples  had  stolen  it,  they 
knew  that  to  be  utterly  false.  (The  report 
was  as  a  matter  of  fact  absurd.)  But  the 
grave  was  empty!  Why?  And  what  did  it 
mean  that  the  Roman  soldiers  reported  that 
the  grave  was  empty  and,  in  explanation  of 
the  fact,  were  willing  to  admit  so  grave  a  mili¬ 
tary  crime  as  to  have  slept,  while  on  guard 
duty? 

In  their  consternation  over  the  report  that 
the  grave  was  empty,  the  Apostles — John  pos¬ 
sibly  excepted — had  paid  slight  attention  to 
the  additional  report  of  the  women  to  the  ef¬ 
fect  that  they  had  “seen  a  vision  of  angels, 
which  said  that  He  was  alive”  (Luke  24:23), 
yes,  that  the  women  had  met  and  spoken  with 
Jesus  Himself.  (Matt.  28:9,  10.)  And  in 
so  far  as  they  paid  attention  to  this  part  of 
the  report,  they  gave  it  no  credence  for  “their 
words  seemed  to  them  as  idle  tales,  and  they 
believed  them  not.”  (Luke  24:  11.) 

What  the  women  told  them  would,  indeed, 
explain  the  empty  grave,  but  the  explanation 
was  too  unreasonable.  There  must  be  some 
other  explanation.  If  Jesus  was  alive,  why 
did  He  not  come  to  them?  Why  should  He 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


43 


appear  to  the  women  instead?  No,  the  women 
surely  were  mistaken!  However,  the  grave 
was  empty.  The  testimony  of  the  women  to 
this  fact  was  true.  Peter  and  John  had  made 
a  thoro  investigation.  Where  could  the  body 
be? 

The  Gospel  according  to  St.  John  shows 
how  this  Apostle,  “whom  Jesus  loved,”  had 
treasured  in  his  heart  the  teachings  of  Jesus. 
When  the  others  in  restlessness,  consternation, 
and  fear,  failed  to  remember  how  Jesus  had 
told  them  that  He  should  arise  from  the  dead 
on  the  third  day,  John  may  have  remembered 
these  words.  Hence,  when  he  beheld  the 
empty  grave,  where  there  was  no  indication 
of  the  violence  of  an  enemy,  “he  saw  and  be¬ 
lieved,”  tho  he  as  well  as  the  others  did  not 
yet  understand  that  according  to  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  Jesus  “must  rise  again  from  the  dead.” 
(John  20:  8,  9.)  He  does  not  tell  us  the  effect 
produced  on  the  disciples,  when  Mary  Mag¬ 
dalene  returned  and  reported  that  she  had  seen 
and  spoken  with  Jesus.  But  Mark  informs 
us  (16:9-11),  that  they  did  not  believe  her 
report  any  more  than  they  had  believed  that 
of  the  other  women.  Perchance  the  quiet  and 
contemplative  John  had  at  this  time  expressed 


44 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


his  own  belief  in  support  of  Mary’s  report. 
If  so,  he  had  been  silenced  by  the  emphatically 
expressed  unbelief  of  his  colleagues. 

However,  the  grave  was  empty.  Either 
someone  had  taken  the  body,  or  the  women, 
Mary  Magdalene,  and  John  were  right  in  their 
contention  that  Jesus  had  risen  from  the  dead. 

The  fears  for  their  own  safety,  the  discus¬ 
sions  and  uncertainty  about  what  had  become 
of  the  body  of  their  beloved  Master,  and  above 
all,  the  profound  sorrow  over  the  untimely  and 
cruel  death  of  Jesus,  stirred  the  little  circle 
of  disciples,  alone  in  the  great  city,  to  the  utter¬ 
most.  It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  two  of 
them  left  the  city  for  the  country,  where  they 
in  peace  could  cherish  their  sorrow.  “While 
they  communed  together  and  reasoned,  Jesus 
Himself  drew  near  and  went  with  them.  But 
their  eyes  were  holden  that  they  should  not 
know  Him.”  (Luke  24:  15,  16.)  Or  as  Mark 
puts  the  last  statement,  “He  appeared  in  an¬ 
other  form  unto  two  of  them,  as  they  walked, 
and  went  into  the  country.”  ( 16 :  12. ) 

How  perfectly  in  accord  with  the  character 
of  Jesus,  as  it  is  delineated  in  the  Gospels,  is 
it  not  that  He  came  to  the  rescue  of  these  two 
men,  who  evidently  were  on  the  point  of 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


45 


despair  and  complete  unbelief!  Again,  is  it 
not  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  method  of  His 
teaching  during  the  days  of  His  ministry  that, 
instead  of  revealing  Himself  to  them  at  once, 
He  conceals  His  identity,  until  He  has  pre¬ 
pared  them  by  opening  to  them  their  under¬ 
standing  of  the  Scriptures ;  thus  showing  them 
that  when  the  suffering  and  death  of  Jesus 
caused  them  to  doubt  that  He  was  the  Mes¬ 
siah,  and  when  the  report  of  the  women  caused 
them  to  be  troubled,  it  was  all  because  they 
were  “slow  of  heart  to  believe  all  that  the 
prophets  have  spoken.”  (Luke  24:25.) 
While  He  thus  talked  with  them,  they  were 
greatly  comforted;  for  as  He  “expounded  unto 
them  in  all  the  Scriptures  the  things  concern¬ 
ing  Himself”  (v.  27) ,  the  truth  began  to  dawn 
upon  them.  They  were  yet  weak  in  faith  and 
uncertain;  so  when  He  seemed  to  be  passing 
by  Emmaus,  where  they  intended  to  stop,  they 
constrained  Him  to  stay  with  them.  “And  it 
came  to  pass,  as  He  sat  at  meat  with  them, 
He  took  bread,  and  blessed  it,  and  brake,  and 
gave  to  them.  And  their  eyes  were  opened, 
and  they  knew  him;  and  He  vanished  out  of 
their  sight.”  (Luke  24:  30,  31.) 

O,  wonder  of  wonders!  It  was  not  only 


46 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


true  what  the  women  had  reported  and  what 
this  kind  companion  had  proven  from  the 
Scriptures,  but  the  risen  Savior  had  revealed 
Himself  to  them!  Filled  with  inexpressible 
joy,  they  hastened  back  to  Jerusalem  to  bring 
the  joyous  tidings  to  those  whom  they  had 
left  in  sorrow  and  despair.  They  found  the 
Apostles  and  the  other  disciples  gathered  to¬ 
gether.  But  before  they  could  utter  their  mes¬ 
sage  of  joy  and  hope,  they  are  met  with  the  an¬ 
nouncement,  “The  Lord  is  risen,  indeed,  and 
hath  appeared  unto  Simon.”  (Luke  24:  34.) 

We  do  not  know  who  it  was  that  spoke  these 
words  of  cheer.  But  it  is  reasonable  to  sup¬ 
pose  that  they  were  spoken  by  John.  The  ap¬ 
pearance  of  Jesus  to  Peter  had  made  John’s 
faith  firm.  His  heart  exulted  in  the  convic¬ 
tion  of  his  beloved  Master’s  resurrection,  and 
his  loving  disposition  urged  him  to  do  his  ut¬ 
most  to  bring  to  others  his  own  joy. 

Knowing  how  heart-broken  and  miserable 
these  two  men  had  been  when  they  left  Jeru¬ 
salem,  he  hastens  to  inform  them  of  the  resur¬ 
rection,  not  knowing  what  had  happened  to 
them  in  the  meantime.  How  joyfully  must 
not  the  two  have  related  their  own  blessed  ex¬ 
perience,  both  on  the  way  and  in  Emmaus! 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


47 


It  seems  very  strange,  but  their  report  fared 
no  better  than  the  report  of  the  women,  that 
of  Mary  Magdalene,  and  that  of  Peter  had 
fared.  “Neither  believed  they  them.”  (Mark 
12:  13.) 

However,  the  gloom  of  that  eventful  day’s 
morning  was  beginning  to  disappear.  A  few 
were  extremely  happy  in  the  firm  belief  that 
Jesus  had  truly  risen,  even  if  the  great  major¬ 
ity  were  unable  to  share  this  joy,  fearing  some 
grievous  mistake  on  the  part  of  those,  who 
claimed  to  have  seen  the  Lord.  But  they  all 
surely  paid  close  attention  as  the  two,  who 
had  just  returned  from  Emmaus,  told  of  their 
meeting  with  Jesus  on  the  way,  how  He  had 
expounded  the  Scriptures  to  them,  and  how 
they  finally  recognized  Him  when  He  was 
breaking  the  bread.  “And  as  they  thus  spake, 
Jesus  Himself  stood  in  the  midst  of  them, 
and  saith  unto  them,  Peace  be  unto  you.” 
(Luke  24:  36.) 

This  sudden  appearance  of  a  being  among 
them,  “when  the  doors  were  shut”  (John  20: 
19),  to  prevent  an  unexpected  entrance  by 
anyone,  caused  them  to  be  “terrified  and  af¬ 
frighted,”  thinking  that  they  saw  a  spirit. 
(Luke  24:  37.)  It  is  very  possible  that  even 


48 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRI8T 


those,  who  had  seen  Jesus  before  that  day, 
were  for  a  moment  frightened  because  of  the 
suddenness  as  well  as  unexpectedness  of  His 
appearance  among  them.  It  is  evident  that 
they  all  had  been  so  engrossed  by  the  narra¬ 
tive  of  the  two  disciples,  that  they  had  not 
noticed  a  stranger  present,  until  they  heard 
His  greetings.  Those  who  did  not  believe 
that  Jesus  had  arisen  from  the  dead  must,  in¬ 
deed,  have  become  thoroly  frightened. 

“And  He  said  unto  them,  Why  are  ye 
troubled  ?  And  why  do  thoughts  arise  in  your 
hearts?  Behold  my  hands  and  my  feet,  that 
it  is  I  myself :  handle  me,  and  see ;  for  a  spirit 
hath  not  flesh  and  bones,  as  ye  see  me  have. 
And  when  He  had  thus  spoken,  He  shewed 
them  His  hands  and  His  feet.  And  while  they 
yet  believed  not  for  joy,  and  wondered,  He 
said  unto  them,  Have  ye  here  any  meat?  and 
they  gave  Him  a  piece  of  a  broiled  fish,  and 
of  an  honeycomb.  And  He  took  it,  and  did 
eat  before  them.  And  He  said  unto  them, 
These  are  the  words  which  I  spake  unto  you, 
while  I  was  yet  with  you,  that  all  things  must 
be  fulfilled,  which  are  written  in  the  law  of 
Moses,  and  in  the  prophets,  and  in  the  psalms, 
concerning  me.  Then  opened  He  their  under- 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


49 


standing,  that  they  might  understand  the 
Scriptures,  and  said  unto  them,  Thus  it  is 
written,  and  thus  it  behooved  Christ  to  suffer, 
and  to  rise  from  the  dead  on  the  third  day.” 
(Luke  24:  28-46.)* 

From  Mark  we  learn  that  Jesus  at  this  time 
“upbraided  them  for  their  unbelief  and  hard¬ 
ness  of  heart,  because  they  believed  not  them 
which  had  seen  Him  after  He  was  risen.”  (16: 
14.)  That  they  did  not  accept  as  true  the  tes¬ 
timony  given  them  by  trustworthy  fellow  dis¬ 
ciples,  was  not  to  their  credit.  Their  unbelief 
did  not  spring  from  any  virtue  in  them,  but 
from  their  “hardness  of  heart”.  What  must 
have  been  the  condition  of  their  heart  if  they 
had  not  believed  now,  when  they  had  seen  Him 
with  their  own  eyes  and  heard  Him  with  their 
own  ears,  yes,  felt  of  Him  with  their  own 
hands ! 

Not  only  were  the  Eleven,  Thomas  excepted 
(John  29:  24),  present,  but  the  other  disciples 
also  were  gathered  here.  ( Luke  24 :  33. )  How 
large  the  number  was,  we  do  not  know.  That 


*  In  his  brevity  Luke  (also  Mark)  omits  to  tell  of  the 
appearances  of  Jesus  from  now  on  until  His  ascension.  As 
a  consequence  he  gives  in  this  connection  the  Lord’s  commis¬ 
sion  to  the  Apostles.  This  commission  was  given,  as  we 
shall  see,  at  a  later  date. 


50 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


the  number  was  considerable  we  have  a  right 
to  believe,  for  Luke  tells  us  (Acts  1:  15)  that 
immediately  after  the  ascension  of  Jesus  the 
Apostles  and  the  disciples  numbered  about  one 
hundred  and  twenty.  As  there  had  been  no 
public  preaching  in  the  meantime,  it  is  reason¬ 
able  to  suppose  that  these  were  the  ones  who 
in  Jerusalem  had  continued  true  to  Jesus. 

It  was,  at  least,  not  only  two  or  three,  or 
even  only  a  dozen  persons,  who  saw,  heard,  and 
spoke  with  the  risen  Savior.  And  they  did  not 
merely  see  Him  in  a  general  way.  He  showed 
them  His  hands  and  His  feet,  unmistakably 
marked  by  the  crucifixion.  He  asks  them  to 
handle  Him  so  as  to  ascertain  that  He  has 
flesh  and  blood,  and  that  He  is  not  a  disem¬ 
bodied  spirit.  When  this  had  been  done,  it 
seems  that  their  unbelief,  which  died  so  tre¬ 
mendously  hard,  finally  had  been  overcome. 
But  the  joy  of  seeing  Him  alive  was  so  su¬ 
premely  sweet  that  it  seemed  too  good  to  be 
true.  There  was  yet  an  element  of  doubt. 
They  were  not  absolutely  certain  that  He  who 
was  dead  now  actually  stood  there  among 
them,  truly  alive  and  in  His  own  body.  So 
He  asks  them  for  something  to  eat  (they  were 
at  supper  when  He  appeared),  and  they  gave 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


51 


Him  remnants  of  their  supper,  which  He  ate 
in  their  presence. 

They  had  “■ wondered.”  No  doubt  about 
how  Jesus  could  be  alive  again  and  how  He 
could  appear  among  them.  Jesus  takes  this 
into  consideration  also.  He  had  assured  them 
before  His  death  that  His  word  was  abso¬ 
lutely  reliable.  He  now  reminds  them  of  the 
fact  that  He  had  told  them  that  He  should 
suffer ;  that  He  should  die ;  and  that  He  should 
arise  again  on  the  third  day.  He  shows  them, 
what  He  had  showed  to  the  two  disciples  on 
the  journey  to  Emmaus,  that,  instead  of  being 
something  unexpected,  this  was  fulfilling 
“what  was  written  of  Him  by  Moses,  in  the 
prophets,  and  in  the  psalms.” 

How  could  they  doubt  any  longer?  They 
saw  Him  with  their  own  eyes,  felt  of  Him 
with  their  own  hands,  heard  Him  speak  with 
their  own  ears.  He  had  the  marks  of  the  cross 
on  His  body.  He  could  tell  them  their 
thoughts  as  well  as  what  He  had  told  them 
before  His  death.  He  showed  them  that  all 
had  been  foretold  in  the  Scriptures.  It  is 
strange  that  these  men  from  now  on  are  cer¬ 
tain,  absolutely  certain,  that  the  resurrection 


52 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


of  Jesus  on  the  third  day  is  an  actual,  an  his¬ 
torical  fact? 

Thus  closed  the  third  day  after  the  cruci¬ 
fixion,  that  glorious  Easter  Sunday.  In  the 
morning  of  that  day  the  tragedy  of  Good  F ri- 
day  filled  their  hearts  with  the  gloom  of  sor¬ 
row  and  despair.  Then  came  the  distressing 
report  of  the  empty  grave.  This  fact,  so  in¬ 
explicable  to  them,  is  verified.  This  added 
vexation,  anxiety,  and  restlessness  to  the  bur¬ 
den  already  too  heavy  to  bear.  Then  beams 
of  light  began  to  appear.  To  begin  with  these 
beams  of  light  did  not  scatter  the  darkness,  but 
made  it  seem  the  deeper.  Finally  the  glorious 
day,  thus  heralded,  bursts  upon  the  sorrow¬ 
ing  group  in  its  noonday  splendor,  filling  them 
with  joy  supreme.  Surely  He  had  kept  the 
promise  given  them  the  last  night  He  was  with 
them:  “I  will  not  leave  you  comfortless;  I 
will  come  to  you.”  (John  14:  18.)  Verily, 
He  turned  their  sorrow  into  joy.  (John 
16:  20.) 

Thomas  was  not  present  in  the  assembly  of 
his  fellow  disciples  that  day.  Why?  We  do 
not  know.  Possibly  for  no  better  reason  than 
many  in  our  day  have,  who  stay  away  from  the 
Sunday  gathering  of  the  disciples  of  Jesus. 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


53 


What  a  terrible  week  did  he  not  have  to  live 
thru!  Terrible,  for  the  reason  that  he  had 
not  been  present  and  because  he  would  not  be¬ 
lieve  the  testimony  of  his  fellow  Apostles. 
When  they  joyfully  told  him  their  experience, 
he  answered:  “Except  I  shall  see  in  His 
hands  the  print  of  the  nails,  and  put  my  finger 
into  the  print  of  the  nails,  and  thrust  my  hand 
into  His  side,  I  will  not  believe.”  (John  20: 
25.) 

What  an  awful  mental,  or  rather  moral, 
condition  to  get  into!  Flatly  to  refuse  to  ac¬ 
cept  as  true  what  his  trustworthy  fellow  Apos¬ 
tles  told  him  had  been  demonstrated  before 
their  very  eyes!  No,  he  would  not  believe 
them.  In  this  case  he  would  trust  no  evidence 
but  that  of  his  own  senses.  To  him  the  resur¬ 
rection  of  Jesus  evidently  seemed  to  be  an  ut¬ 
ter  impossibility.  He  did  not  stop  to  consider 
that  what  would  be  an  utter  impossibility  for 
man,  would  be  the  necessary  sequence  of 
events,  if  Jesus  truly  were  what  He  had 
claimed  to  be,  and  what  Thomas  had  believed 
Him  to  be.  By  God’s  grace  even  the  rational¬ 
istic  Thomas  was  destined  to  learn  this  to  his 
peace  and  joy  in  time  and  eternity. 

On  the  first  Sunday  after  Easter,  the  dis- 


54. 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


ciples  were  again  gathered  together.  This 
time  Thomas  was  present.  “Then  came  Je¬ 
sus,  the  doors  being  shut,  and  stood  in  the 
midst,  and  said,  Peace  be  unto  you.  Then 
saith  He  to  Thomas,  Reach  hither  thy  finger, 
and  behold  my  hands,  and  reach  hither  thy 
hand,  and  thrust  it  into  my  side:  and  be  not 
faithless,  but  believing.  And  Thomas  an¬ 
swered  and  said  unto  Him,  My  Lord  and  my 
God.  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Thomas,  because 
thou  hast  seen  me,  thou  hast  believed:  blessed 
are  they  that  have  not  seen,  and  yet  have  be¬ 
lieved.”  (John  20:  26-30.) 

He  certainly  did  not  now  have  any  greater 
comprehension  of  how  it  could  be  possible  for 
Jesus  to  have  risen  from  the  dead  than  he  had 
before ;  yet  now  he  knew  it  to  be  a  fact.  Pos¬ 
sibly  he  was  beginning  to  realize  more  fully 
than  before  what  lay  in  the  term  “Son  of  God”, 
and  that  he  gives  expression  to  this  by  con¬ 
fessing  Jesus  to  be  his  Lord  and  his  God. 

We  have  now  seen  the  facts,  as  given  in  the 
records,  on  which  the  Eleven — and  the  dis¬ 
ciples  with  them — based  the  certainty  of  the 
truth  of  their  testimony  regarding  the  resur¬ 
rection  of  Jesus.  He  appeared  at  various 
times  to  the  Eleven  and  others  after  this,  but 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


55 


as  far  as  the  Eleven  were  concerned,  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  those  later  appearances  was  not  to  con¬ 
vince  them  of  the  reality  and  certainty  of  His 
resurrection.  There  were  other  purposes.  The 
records  examined  clearly  show  that  so  far  J e- 
sus  had  appeared  to  His  disciples  and  Apostles 
for  the  purpose  of  bringing  to  them  the  knowl¬ 
edge  of  and  to  convince  them  of  the  reality  of 
His  resurrection  from  the  dead .  To  do  this 
He  not  only  appeared  to  them  in  an  unmis¬ 
takable  manner,  but  He  gave  them  “infallible 
proofs”  (Acts  1:3)  of  His  resurrection;  and 
He  taught  them  that  as  He  truly  was  the  Mes¬ 
siah,  it  could  not  be  otherwise :  He  had  to  die ; 
He  likewise  had  to  rise  again  from  the  dead. 

Whether  His  appearance  to  James  (I  Cor. 
15:  7)  belongs  in  this  division  or  in  the  follow¬ 
ing  one,  cannot  be  determined,  as  we  do  not 
possess  the  necessary  information  regarding  it. 

The  Apostles  had  now  reached  that  plane  of 
faith  where  they  should  have  been  on  Good 
Friday,  and  where  they  would  have  been,  had 
they  accepted  the  words  of  Jesus  concerning 
Himself  in  their  simple,  literary  sense.  To 
this  plane  the  message  which  the  angel  sent 
from  the  grave  with  the  women  sought  to  bring 
them.  These  appearances  of  Jesus  to  His 


56 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


Apostles  and  disciples  were  extra  gifts  of 
grace ,  made  necessary  by  their  deplorable  lack 
of  faith. 


CHAPTER  SIX 


APPEARANCES  OF  JESUS  WITH  A  SPECIAL  IMPORT 

I.  The  Reinstatement  of  Peter  to  Apostleship 
The  twenty-first  chapter  of  the  Gospel  ac¬ 
cording  to  St.  John  tells  us  of  this  appearance. 
The  Apostles  had  gone  north  to  Galilee,  un¬ 
doubtedly  in  preparation  for  the  meeting  Je¬ 
sus  had  told  them  of  before  His  Passion. 
(Matt.  26:  32;  28:  7  ,16;  Mark  14:  28;  16:  7.) 
The  time  for  the  meeting  had  not  yet  come, 
so  Peter  says  to  six  of  the  other  Apostles  one 
evening,  “I  go  a  fishing.”  We  can  easily  un¬ 
derstand  why.  This  little  company  of  men 
had  been  poor,  even  while  Jesus  was  with  them. 
And  surely  their  finances  had  not  improved 
since  His  death  and  resurrection.  As  fishing 
had  been  Peter’s  trade  before  he  became  an 
Apostle,  it  is  natural  for  him  to  plan  to  earn 
something  at  his  old  trade  now,  when  he  had 
returned  to  the  place  where  he  had  been  ac¬ 
customed  to  follow  that  vocation.  The  others 
join  him  gladly.  But  in  spite  of  the  whole 
night’s  work,  no  fish  is  caught.  “But  when  the 


58 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


morning  was  now  come,  Jesus  stood  on  the 
shore:  but  the  disciples  knew  not  that  it  was 
Jesus,  Then  Jesus  saith  unto  them,  Children, 
have  ye  any  meat?  They  answered  him,  No. 
And  He  said  unto  them,  Cast  the  net  on  the 
right  side  of  the  ship,  and  ye  shall  find.  They 
cast  therefore,  and  now  they  were  not  able 
to  draw  it  for  the  multitude  of  the  fishes.” 
(John  21:  4-6.)  Then  John  realized  that  the 
person  on  the  shore  must  be  Jesus.  Had  He 
not,  several  years  before,  when  they  had 
worked  the  whole  night  without  results,  asked 
them  to  do  something  just  as  unreasonable  as 
what  they  were  asked  to  do  now,  and  with  the 
same  wonderful  results?  So  he  said  to  Peter, 
“It  is  the  Lord.”  On  hearing  this,  Peter 
throws  his  coat  off,  jumps  into  the  sea,  and 
swims  to  shore  to  meet  his  beloved  Lord.  The 
others  came  in  the  boat,  dragging  the  net,  for 
it  was  so  heavy  that  they  could  not  draw  it  into 
the  boat.  When  they  came  to  land,  “they  saw 
a  fire  of  coals  there,  and  fish  laid  thereon,  and 
bread.”  Thus  Jesus  again  helped  and  com¬ 
forted  them. 

The  real  purpose  of  this  appearance  is 
shown  by  what  followed  when  they  had  had 
their  breakfast  with  the  Lord.  The  Apostles 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


59 


were  to  be  the  Lord’s  witnesses,  as  we  saw  in 
chapters  three  and  four.  But  on  F riday  morn¬ 
ing  of  Passion  week,  when  Jesus  was  on  trial 
before  the  high  priest,  Peter  had  thrice  em¬ 
phatically  denied  Him.  Thus  he  had  fallen 
both  from  the  grace  of  apostleship  and  dis- 
cipleship.  The  appearance  of  Jesus  to  re¬ 
pentant  Peter  on  Easter  Sunday  must  have 
indicated  that  this  mortal  sin  had  been  for¬ 
given,  so  that  Peter  again  enjoyed  the  grace 
of  discipleship.  But  Peter  had  by  his  public 
denial  forfeited  his  exalted  position  as  one  of 
the  Eleven.  Nothing  but  a  reinstatement  by 
the  Lord  Himself  could  give  Peter  the  stand¬ 
ing  which  he  had  enjoyed  during  the  ministry 
of  Jesus. 

The  first  call  to  apostleship  had  come  to  Pe¬ 
ter  on  the  shore  of  this  very  lake  (Matt.  4, 
18ff.),  possibly  on  the  very  spot  where  they 
now  were  gathered.  Surely  a  fitting  place  for 
the  reinstatement.  As  Peter  had  thrice  denied 
his  Lord,  the  Lord  now  asks  him  thrice,  “Si¬ 
mon,  son  of  Jonas,  lovest  thou  me?  ”  On  the 
humble,  but  firm  and  thrice  repeated  reply  of 
Peter,  that  he  did  love  Him,  he  was  again 
numbered  among  the  Eleven,  by  being  com¬ 
manded  to  feed  the  lambs  and  sheep  of  Jesus. 


60 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


The  Lord  tells  him  in  addition  that,  while  his 
fear  of  possible  death  on  Good  Friday  morn¬ 
ing  led  him  to  deny  Jesus,  his  steadfast  con¬ 
fession  of  Him  should  in  his  old  age  be 
crowned  with  death  on  a  cross. 

To  the  worldly  minded  and  even  to  disci¬ 
ples,  who  have  little  spiritual  insight,  the  mar¬ 
tyr’s  death,  here  foretold  Peter,  might  seem  to 
be  a  punishment,  merited  by  his  fall.  It  is  in¬ 
stead  a  glorious  crown  as  a  reward  for  faith¬ 
ful  and  courageous  service. 

II.  The  Eleven  Receive  Their  Mission 

As  the  Eleven  had  been  thoroly  convinced 
of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  as  a  real,  an  his¬ 
torical  fact,  and  as  Peter  had  been  reinstated 
to  the  high  position  which  he  had  been  privi¬ 
leged  to  enjoy  until  his  shameful  denial  of 
Jesus,  everything  was  ready  for  the  meeting 
in  Galilee  which  Jesus  had  appointed  for  His 
Apostles  before  His  Passion. 

This  meeting  of  the  Apostles  with  the  risen 
Lord  had,  as  we  have  seen,  been  announced 
for  a  long  time.  It  is  reasonable  to  suppose, 
therefore,  that  it  was  known  by  all  the  dis¬ 
ciples  of  Jesus.  That  all  who  possibly  could 
come  there  would  be  present,  must  be  evident 
to  all.  Hence  it  is  very  probable  that  Paul 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


61 


refers  to  this  meeting  when  he  in  I  Cor.  15:  6 
says:  “After  that  He  was  seen  of  above  five 
hundred  brethren  at  once ;  of  whom  the  greater 
part  remain  unto  the  present,  but  some  are 
fallen  asleep.” 

Matthew  tells  of  this  meeting  in  chapter  28, 
verses  16-20:  “Then  the  eleven  disciples  went 
away  into  Galilee,  into  a  mountain  where  Je¬ 
sus  had  appointed  them.  And  when  they  saw 
Him,  they  worshipped  Him:  but  some 
doubted.  And  Jesus  came  and  spake  unto 
them  saying,  All  power  is  given  unto  me  in 
heaven  and  in  earth.  Go  ye  therefore,  and 
teach  all  nations  [The  Revised  Version  ren¬ 
ders  this  correctly:  make  disciples  of  all  na¬ 
tions],  baptising  them  in  the  name  of  the  Fa¬ 
ther,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost: 
Teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatso¬ 
ever  I  have  commanded  you :  and  lo,  I  am  with 
you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world. 
Amen.” 

When  Matthew  says,  “some  doubted”  this 
might  at  first  glance  give  the  impression  that 
some  of  the  Eleven  doubted.  But  he  does 
not  say,  some  of  them  doubted.  He  does  not 
indicate  who  the  “some”  who  doubted  were. 
Having  come  to  this  place  for  the  definite  pur- 


62 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


pose  of  meeting  the  Lord,  whom  they  now 
knew  to  be  risen  from  the  dead,  it  would 
be  remarkable  if  some  of  the  Eleven  doubted. 
But  when  we  remember  that  the  angel  had 
told  the  women  at  the  grave  of  this  meeting, 
that  it  thus  was  general  knowledge  among  the 
disciples,  even  among  those  who  had  not  yet 
seen  Him  after  the  resurrection,  it  is,  as  was 
stated,  reasonable  to  suppose  that  as  many  as 
possibly  could  come,  would  come  to  this  meet¬ 
ing.  That  some  of  these  should  have  doubted, 
when  they  first  saw  Jesus,  would  not  be 
strange. 

Would  it  not  be  surprising  if  Jesus,  who 
had  such  patience  and  who  did  everything  so 
thoroly  and  well,  should  have  hastened  to  give 
His  kingly  command  to  such  an  extent,  that 
He  gave  it  before  those  who  should  carry  it 
out  were  convinced  of  the  reality  of  the  exist¬ 
ence  of  the  being,  who  commanded  them  to  go 
forth  to  do  His  work? 

No,  the  Eleven  did  not  doubt.  They  had 
been  fully  convinced.  They  had  gathered  here 
at  His  definite  appointment.  And  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  the  appointment  is  as  clear  as  the  noon¬ 
day  sun  on  a  cloudless  day.  They  were  to 
receive  their  commission.  They  were  to  learn 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


63 


by  what  means  they  should  perform  it.  Since 
He  promises  to  be  with  them  to  the  end  of 
the  world,  we  understand  that  His  orders  were 
given  once  and  for  all  time  to  those  who  were 
to  be  His  messengers. 

It  was  said  of  Jesus  in  the  time  of  His  flesh 
that  He  did  not  speak  as  the  scribes,  but  as 
one  who  had  authority.  Surely  He  speaks 
with  authority  here.  As  the  omnipotent  Lord 
of  all  He  commands  His  messengers  to  go 
forth.  He  is  not  satisfied  with  a  little  work, 
all  nations  are  to  be  reached:  not  in  a  super¬ 
ficial,  impersonal  way;  they  are  to  be  made 
His  disciples,  that  is,  followers,  who  recognize 
Him  as  Lord  and  as  Redeemer .  This  astound¬ 
ing  work  shall  be  accomplished  by  His  mes¬ 
sengers  thru  the  seemingly  insignificant 
means:  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism  and  the 
C(  foolishness  of  preaching" !  (I  Cor.  1:  21.) 

III.  He  Departs  from  Them  with  His 
Visible  Presence 

Mark  mentions  the  ascension  of  Jesus  (16: 
19) ,  but  he  is  so  brief  that  he  does  not  specific¬ 
ally  mention  that  the  ascension  took  place  in 
the  sight  of  the  Apostles.  Luke  tells  us  this. 
In  the  Gospel  he  also  is  very  brief,  but  it  is 


64, 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


evident  that  Jesus  was  with  His  Apostles  and 
parted  from  them  by  His  ascension,  for  he 
says:  “And  it  came  to  pass,  while  He  blessed 
them,  He  was  parted  from  them,  and  carried 
up  into  heaven.”  (16:  51.)  In  the  Acts  (1: 
4-12)  Luke  describes  more  in  detail  this  oc¬ 
currence  on  the  fortieth  day  after  the  resur¬ 
rection.  Here  we  learn  that  they  beheld  Him 
rise  heavenward,  until  a  cloud  received  Him 
out  of  their  sight,  (v.  9.) 

Thus  it  became  evident  to  them  that  they 
no  longer  should  see  Him  among  them.  He 
had  now  gone  to  the  Father  with  His  visible 
presence.  They  had  received  all  the  instruc¬ 
tions  which  they  were  to  receive  orally  from 
Him.  In  addition  to  this  lesson,  Christ  taught 
them  this  last  time  He  was  with  them  that 
they  were  not  yet  ready  for  their  work.  They 
must  receive  power  from  on  high.  This  they 
would  receive  when  the  Holy  Ghost  came 
upon  them.  In  the  meantime,  and  He  assures 
them  that  it  will  not  be  many  days  hence,  they 
must  abide  in  Jerusalem.  Even  if  they  were 
full  of  joy  because  of  Christ’s  victory  over 
death;  even  tho  they  might  burn  with  desire 
to  proclaim  publicly  that  Jesus  had  not  been 
overcome  by  His  enemies,  but  was  dem- 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


65 


onstrated  to  be  what  He  claimed  to  be,  they 
must  patiently  wait.  They  are  to  be  His  wit¬ 
nesses  in  Jerusalem,  in  Judea,  and  in  Samaria, 
and  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth;  but 
this  they  can  be  in  a  full  sense  only,  when  they 
have  received  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  shall  re¬ 
mind  them  of  all  Jesus  had  told  them;  He 
shall  guide  them  into  all  truth  (John  14:  26)  ; 
He  should  never  leave  them,  but  abide  with 
them  for  ever.  (John  14:  16.)  They  may  not 
have  realized  what  a  superhuman  task  Jesus 
laid  upon  them,  when  He  gave  them  His  royal 
command  on  the  mount.  Mere  human  power, 
however  great,  even  tho  supported  by  the  most 
complete  certainty  and  intensified  by  the  most 
exalted  enthusiasm,  would  be  unable  to  per¬ 
form  the  work.  They  needed  the  gift  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  for  their  own  sake.  Should  their 
courage  not  fail  them  in  times  of  great  peril 
or  tremendous  obstacles,  they  must  have  the 
firm  assurance  that  He  was  ever  present  to 
grant  them  the  necessary  wisdom  and  strength. 
The  Holy  Ghost  was  needed  by  those  whom 
they  should  win  for  Christ.  He  who  should 
accept  their  testimony  so  as  to  become  a  real 
disciple  of  Jesus,  he  must  be  born  anew.  This 
new  birth  is  not  of  man,  but  of  the  Spirit. 


66 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


This  regeneration  is  effected,  indeed,  by  the 
means  Jesus  had  commanded  them  to  use,  but 
it  is  not  effected  by  virtue  of  their  baptizing 
and  preaching.  It  is  effected  by  virtue  of 
the  Holy  Ghost’s  operation  thru  these  means 
of  grace.  It  was,  therefore,  absolutely  essen¬ 
tial  that  the  Holy  Ghost  should  join  them  to 
fructify  their  work. 


CHAPTER  SEVEN 


THE  FACT  ON  WHICH  THE  ASSURANCE  OF 
PAUL  WAS  BASED 

Paul  was,  from  the  death  of  Stephen  un¬ 
til  his  conversion,  an  exceedingly  bitter  enemy 
of  the  disciples  of  Jesus.  His  purpose  seemed 
to  be  to  destroy  them  from  off  the  face  of  the 
earth.  This  intense  hatred  was  not  caused  by 
personal  enmity  towards  certain  persons 
among  the  disciples,  but  by  the  fact  that  he 
abhorred  their  religious  views.  They  preached 
that  Jesus  was  the  Christ;  for  this  reason  he 
regarded  them  as  apostates  and  traitors  to  the 
religion  of  the  fathers,  and  as  such,  worthy  of 
death.  He  considered  it  an  act  of  devotion  to 
his  God  to  persecute  the  followers  of  the 
despised  and  crucified  Jesus. 

F rom  being  the  most  zealous  enemy,  he  sud-  ' 
denly  became  the  most  devoted  and  energetic 
follower  of  Jesus  and  His  religion.  To  make 
this  change  possible,  Paul  must  have  experi¬ 
enced  a  definite,  clear,  and  unmistakeable 
revelation  which  could  stand  the  test  of  reflec- 


68 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


tion;  which  could  retain  its  clearness  of  out¬ 
line  and  its  importance  thruout  a  long  life  of 
unceasing  labor  amid  overwhelming  hazards. 
In  II  Cor.  11:23-28,  he  tells  of  sufferings  he 
had  endured  for  the  sake  of  Jesus:  “Are 
they” — referring  to  the  false  teachers — -“min¬ 
isters  of  Christ?  (I  speak  as  a  fool)  I  am 
more ;  in  labors  more  abundant,  in  stripes 
above  measure,  in  prisons  more  frequent,  in 
deaths  oft.  Of  the  Jews  five  times  received  I 
forty  stripes  save  one.  Thrice  I  was  beaten 
with  rods,  once  I  was  stoned,  thrice  I  suffered 
shipwreck,  a  night  and  a  day  I  have  been  in 
the  deep;  in  journeyings  often,  in  perils  of 
waters,  in  perils  of  robbers,  in  perils  by  mine 
own  countrymen,  in  perils  by  the  heathen,  in 
perils  in  the  city,  in  perils  in  the  wilderness, 
in  perils  in  the  sea,  in  perils  among  false 
brethren;  in  weariness  and  painfulness, 
in  watchings  often,  in  hunger  and  thirst,  in 
fastings  often,  in  cold  and  nakedness.  Beside 
those  things  that  are  without,  that  which  com- 
eth  upon  me  daily,  the  care  of  all  the 
churches.” 

When  Paul  set  his  face  to  walk  the  path 
he  describes  in  the  passage  quoted  above,  he 
was  a  young  man  with  the  brightest  hopes  of 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


69 


reaching  an  eminent  position  among  his  own 
people.  He  had  advantages  possessed  by  few. 
By  birth  a  Roman  citizen,  tho  of  pure  Jewish 
blood ;  highly  endowed  by  nature ;  thoroly 
educated  both  in  Jewish  and  Greek  learning; 
of  unblamable  habits  and  character ;  of  zealous 
and  aggressive  disposition;  a  passionate  ad¬ 
herent  of  Jewish  theology.  At  the  time  of  his 
conversion  to  discipleship,  he  was  the  power¬ 
ful  agent  of  the  ecclesiastical  organization 
which  purposed  to  accomplish  what  the  cruci¬ 
fixion  of  Jesus  had  not  accomplished.  He  had 
thus  already  risen  to  a  position  of  great  power ; 
a  position  which  at  the  time  must  have  been 
regarded  to  be  of  the  greatest  importance. 

What  a  contrast!  The  mighty  persecutor 
voluntarily  surrenders  his  position  of  power; 
he  throws  away  the  favor  of  the  mighty  and 
the  good  will  and  respect  of  his  people;  he 
sacrifices  all  the  hopes  and  aspirations  which 
he  formerly  cherished.  He  does  this  to  join 
in  with  those  whom  he  formerly  persecuted, 
and  to  adore  the  name  of  Jesus,  which  previ¬ 
ously  had  been  so  abhorrent  to  him. 

Who  caused  this  remarkable  change?  The 
risen  Lord  Jesus . 

The  conversion  of  Paul  is  related  three  times 


70 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


in  the  Acts.  In  9:  1-20  Luke  tells  it  as  an  his¬ 
torian.  In  22:3-16  Luke  records  how  Paul 
told  it  in  the  Hebrew  tongue  in  Jerusalem  to 
the  Jews  who  wanted  to  stone  him.  In  26:  4- 
18  Luke  narrates  how  Paul  told  it  to  the  Ro¬ 
man  governor  Festus  and  to  king  Agrippa. 
Each  time  the  emphasis  is  definitely  laid  on 
the  fact  that  Jesus  appeared  to  Paul  on  the 
way  to  Damascus,  where  Paul  intended  to  ar¬ 
rest  the  disciples  of  Jesus  and  to  bring  them 
to  Jerusalem  for  trial. 

The  revelation  on  the  road  to  Damascus 
was  so  glorious  that  Paul  at  once  understood 
that  it  came  from  the  Lord.  That  this  Lord 
was  Jesus,  he  did  not  know  until,  having  asked, 
“Who  art  Thou,  Lord?”  he  received  the  def¬ 
inite  reply,  “I  am  Jesus  whom  thou  perse- 
cutest.”  “And  he  trembling  and  astonished 
said,  Lord,  what  wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do? 
And  the  Lord  said  unto  him,  Arise,  and  go 
into  the  city,  and  it  shall  be  told  thee  what 
thou  must  do.”  (Acts  9:  5,  6.) 

When  he  arose  from  the  ground,  to  which 
he  in  fear  and  terror  had  fallen,  and  opened 
his  eyes,  he  found  that  he  had  become  blind. 
His  companions  had  to  lead  him  into  the  city. 
When  a  disciple  of  Jesus,  Ananias  by  name, 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


71 


had  come  to  him,  at  the  express  command 
of  Jesus,  and  had  placed  his  hands  on  Saul, 
he  received  his  sight  again.  “And  immediately 
there  fell  from  his  eyes  as  it  had  been  scales.” 
When  Ananias  came,  three  days  had  passed 
by  since  Paul  lost  his  sight  thru  the  revela¬ 
tion  on  the  road.  Three  days  are  under  ordi¬ 
nary  circumstances  a  very  short  period  of  time. 
For  Paul  these  days  must  have  been  long,  and 
very  terrible.  The  image  of  Him  who  so 
gloriously  had  revealed  Himself  to  him  in  the 
way,  and  who  had  left  His  imprint  upon  him 
thru  physical  blindness,  must  unceasingly  have 
stood  before  his  mental  vision  all  this  time. 
How  the  words,  “I  am  Jesus  whom  thou  perse- 
cutest,”  must  have  burned  in  his  soul!  The 
realization  of  what  he  had  been  doing  during 
these  years  of  persecution  must  have  tor¬ 
mented  him,  filling  him  with  fear  and  shame. 
So  profoundly  was  his  soul  agonized  that  dur¬ 
ing  the  three  days  he  did  not  eat,  nor  did  he 
drink. 

When  the  glorious  person  in  the  appearance 
informed  him  that  in  persecuting  the  disciples, 
Paul  was  persecuting  Him,  Jesus,  it  is  stated 
that  he  trembled  and  was  astonished.  He  had 
been  so  sure  that  Jesus  was  an  impostor. 


72 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


During  the  three  days  the  question  must  again 
and  again  have  come  up  in  his  mind:  Could 
it  really  be  Jesus  whom  he  met  face  to  face 
on  the  road?  Try  as  he  would  to  satisfy  his 
conscience  and  to  follow  his  desires,  he  could 
not  escape  the  conviction  that  it  actually  was 
Jesus,  for  the  words  were  plain,  “I  am  Jesus 
whom  thou  persecutest.”  What  had  he  done? 
Persecuted  the  Lord,  the  God  of  his  fathers, 
instead  of  serving  Him!  How  terrible!  What 
a  sinner  had  he  not  been!  And  yet,  he  had 
thought  himself  unblamable.  How  perfectly 
blind  had  he  not  been  in  spiritual  matters. 
But  could  it  be  Jesus!  Could  this  Lord  be 
the  Jesus  who  had  been  crucified,  who  died, 
who  had  been  buried?  This  question  was  for¬ 
ever  put  away,  when  Ananias,  this  stranger  to 
him,  unexpectedly  came  to  him  in  his  misery 
and  said:  “Brother  Saul,  the  Lord,  even  Je¬ 
sus,  that  appeared  unto  thee  in  the  way  as 
thou  earnest  hath  sent  me,  that  thou  mayest 
receive  thy  sight,  and  be  filled  with  the  Holy 
Ghost.”  (Acts  9:  17.)  And  then  he  delivered 
in  the  name  of  “The  God  of  our  fathers”  the 
same  wonderful  message  regarding  Paul’s 
work  in  the  future  (Acts  22:12-15),  which 
Jesus  gave  him,  when  He  appeared  to  him  in 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


73 


the  way.  (Acts  26:15-18.)  Ananias  sealed 
the  truth  of  his  message  by  knowing  what  had 
happened  on  the  way  and  by  restoring  his 
sight.  There  could  be  no  mistake.  Jesus  was 
the  Lord.  He  was  the  Messiah.  Not  the  dis¬ 
ciples,  but  he,  Paul,  and  those  with  him  were 
mistaken.  Having  received  the  remission  of 
sin  and  the  Holy  Ghost  in  baptism,  the  contest 
was  over.  He  knew  what  it  would  mean.  He 
would  be  an  outcast  among  those  who  formerly 
honored  him.  It  could  not  be  helped.  Better 
to  be  cast  out  by  men,  than  to  be  cast  out  by 
God,  who  had  granted  grace,  where  He  had 
every  right  to  condemn.  He  was,  therefore, 
“not  disobedient  to  the  heavenly  vision:  but 
shewed  first  unto  them  of  Damascus,  and  at 
Jerusalem,  and  thruout  all  the  coasts  of  Judea, 
and  then  to  the  Gentiles,  that  they  should  re¬ 
pent  and  turn  to  God,  and  do  works  meet  for 
repentance.”  (Acts  26:  19,  20.)  Thus  he 
began  a  ministry  whose  hardships  and  whose 
results  never  have  been  equalled  by  that  of 
any  man.  Never  was  his  conviction  of  the 
reality  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  shaken. 
He  kept  his  faith  until  he  had  finished  his 
course.  He  must  seal  his  testimony  with  his 
blood.  Nevertheless,  he  does  not  falter,  but 


74 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


looks  forward  to  the  martyr’s  death,  so  near 
at  hand,  with  noble  fortitude  and  exalted  joy. 
He  says:  “For  I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered, 
and  the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand.  I 
have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my 
course,  I  have  kept  the  faith;  henceforth  there 
is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness 
which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  judge,  shall  give 
me  at  that  day;  and  not  to  me  only,  but  unto 
all  them  also  that  love  His  appearing.”  (II 
Tim.  4:  6-8.) 


CHAPTER  EIGHT 


ARE  THE  FACTS  CONSIDERED  SUFFICIENT  FOR  US  ? 

We  have  now  seen  how  the  Eleven  and  Paul 
became  absolutely  certain  that  Jesus  arose 
from  the  dead.  We  have  also  seen  how  un¬ 
reasonable  and  impossible  the  resurrection  at 
first  seemed  to  them, — because  of  their  “hard¬ 
ness  of  heart,” — and  how  slowly  their  unbelief 
was  overcome,  even  when  “infallible  proofs” 
were  placed  before  them.  The  records  show 
that  John  alone  believed  before  he  had  been 
convinced  by  the  use  of  his  senses.  No  one  can, 
therefore,  justly  say  that  the  Apostles  were 
predisposed  for  accepting  the  resurrection  as 
a  fact.  Neither  can  it  be  denied  that  they  were 
sane  and  matter  of  fact  men,  who  demanded 
adequate  proofs,  before  they  accepted  a  fact 
so  remarkable. 

Now  the  nature  of  a  historical  fact  is  such 
that  only  those  who  live  at  the  time  it  happens 
and  are  present  at  the  time  it  happens  can 
ascertain  its  reality  by  the  use  of  their  senses. 
Those  not  present  at  the  time,  as  well  as  sue- 


76 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


ceeding  generations,  must  depend  for  their  in¬ 
formation  on  the  testimony  of  those  present. 
This  is  true  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  as  an 
historical  fact.  In  chapter  three  we  read  the 
clear  and  definite  testimony  of  those  who  had 
ascertained  the  fact  by  use  of  their  senses.  In 
the  succeeding  chapters  we  have  the  evidence 
presented  on  which  their  certainty  was  based. 

Why  should  not  we  admit  that  their  testi¬ 
mony  is  true  and,  therefore,  accept  the  resur¬ 
rection  of  Jesus  on  the  third  day  as  a  real,  an 
historical  fact?  We  accept  their  testimony  as 
true  in  other  matters.  When  we  believe  that 
Jesus  lived  and  died,  our  faith  rests  upon  the 
testimony  of  these  same  men.  Theirs  is  the 
only  testimony  of  eyewitnesses,  or  even  of  co¬ 
temporaries,  which  is  extant.  What  references 
we  have  to  Jesus  from  other  sources  are  oc¬ 
casioned  by  the  results  of  the  preaching  of 
these  Apostles. 

No  one  seems  to  doubt  the  truth  of  their 
statement  that  Jesus  was  crucified.  When  we 
examine  their  testimony,  do  we  find  that  they 
used  greater  care  in  finding  out  that  it  truly 
was  Jesus  who  was  crucified  than  they  did  in 
ascertaining  that  He  actually  had  risen  from 
the  dead?  But  why  accept  as  true  the  less 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


77 


carefully  investigated  fact  and  reject  the  one 
so  carefully  investigated  into?  They  would 
have  risked  nothing  in  preaching  that  Jesus 
was  put  to  death,  but  they  risked  their  lives 
in  preaching  that  He  arose  again  on  the  third 
day! 

Why  not  accept  their  testimony  as  true? 

The  witnesses  are  trustworthy  and  credible. 
There  is  a  large  number  of  them.  They  are 
perfectly  agreed.  They  do  not  testify  to  a 
dream,  which  the  one  or  the  other  of  them  had ; 
nor  to  an  opinion,  arrived  at  by  means  of 
speculation  and  discussion,  but  to  a  fact, 
which  was  repeatedly  found  to  be  true  by  the 
use  of  their  senses.  This  fact  was  ascertained 
to  be  true,  not  only  by  one  or  two,  but  by  large 
numbers  of  men,  even  by  hundreds  at  the  same 
time.  They  were  so  certain  of  the  fact  that 
they  gave  their  time  and  strength,  amidst  the 
greatest  of  dangers,  thruout  years  of  strenuous 
and  unceasing  labor  to  make  known  this  fact 
so  important,  so  absolutely  necessary  for  the 
salvation  of  mankind;  and  this  they  did  with¬ 
out  any  possible  hope  of  worldly  gain,  worldly 
pleasure,  or  honor.  Why  should  we  not  accept 
their  testimony  as  true?  Even  the  most  bit¬ 
ter  opponents  are  constrained  to  admit  that 


78 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


the  Apostles  firmly  believed  that  Jesus  ac¬ 
tually  arose  from  the  dead.  Why  deny  that 
they  knew  that  He  arose?  They  do  not  testify 
merely  to  a  belief  in  His  resurrection,  but  to 
the  knowledge  of  His  resurrection. 

Some  base  their  refusal  to  believe  the  resur¬ 
rection  of  Jesus  as  a  fact  on  what  they  call 
discrepancies  in  the  Apostolic  testimony. 
Even  these  men  must  admit,  however,  that 
there  is  absolute  unanimity  in  the  testimony 
respecting  the  resurrection  itself.  But  they 
say  that  there  are  “discrepancies”  regarding 
certain  details,  such  as  the  number  of  women 
who  visited  the  grave  Easter  morning,  the  time 
of  the  visit,  the  number  of  the  angels  they  saw 
there,  the  place  where  they  saw  them,  the  num¬ 
ber  and  the  order  of  the  appearances  of  Jesus. 
That  these  discrepancies,  so  called,  do  not  con¬ 
stitute  the  real  reason  for  the  denial  is  evi¬ 
denced  by  the  fact  that  these  same  men  do 
not  deny  that  Jesus  was  crucified,  tho  there  are 
“discrepancies”  of  a  similar  nature,  due  to  the 
same  causes  in  their  report  of  the  crucifixion. 

These  socalled  discrepancies  are  due  to  the 
fact  that  all  the  Evangelists  are  so  very  brief 
in  all  they  say  about  the  person  of  Jesus,  His 
words,  and  His  work.  This  is  true  respecting 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


79 


His  resurrection  as  well  as  respecting  other 
phases  of  His  life.  Whatever  one  of  them 
states  is  true,  even  in  detail,  but  so  many  things 
are  left  unsaid  (John  21 :  25)  that  we  have  not 
the  knowledge  necessary  to  arrange  these  de¬ 
tails  in  their  exact  chronological  order.  And 
surely  no  one  can  justly  say  that  when  several 
independent  writers  or  witnesses  mention  only 
some  of  the  many  facts  in  a  case,  then  they 
must  mention  the  same  facts,  otherwise  their 
testimony  is  untrue.  If  this  principle  should 
prevail  in  our  courts  of  justice,  every  case,  in 
which  more  than  one  witness  was  called,  would 
have  to  be  dismissed. 

The  fact  that  an  Evangelist  does  not  men¬ 
tion  a  certain  fact  or  a  certain  appearance  of 
Jesus,  is  not  due  to  a  lack  of  knowledge,  but 
to  his  choice  of  material.  As  an  illustration 
compare  Luke  24:49-53  with  Acts  1:1-14. 
That  these  two  books  are  written  by  the  same 
writer  is  clear  from  Luke  1:1-4  compared 
with  Acts  1:1,2. 

Neither  the  method  nor  the  aim  of  the 
Evangelists  were  those  of  modern  scholars. 
Should  modern  scientific  divines  have  had  the 
opportunities  of  the  sacred  writers,  the  New 
Testament  would  have  become  a  whole  library 


80 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


instead  of  a  book  which  can  easily  be  used  by 
all  who  can  read. 

*  *  * 

Those,  who  have  read  with  care  in  their 
English  New  Testament  Luke’s  narration  of 
Paul’s  conversion  in  chapter  nine  of  the  Acts 
and  then  compared  this  with  the  record  in 
chapter  twenty-two,  where  it  is  stated  how 
Paul  told  it  to  the  Jews  in  Jerusalem,  may 
honestly  contend  that  there  is  not  only  a  dis¬ 
crepancy,  but  a  real  contradiction.  In  Acts 
9:  7  we  read:  “And  the  men  which  journeyed 
with  him  stood  speechless,  hearing  a  voice,  but 
seeing  no  man.”  In  Acts  22:9  we  read: 
“And  they  that  were  with  me  saw  indeed  the 
light,  and  were  afraid;  but  they  heard  not  the 
voice  of  Him  that  spake  to  me.”  That  the  first 
passage  omits  to  mention  what  the  second  pas¬ 
sage  relates  relative  to  the  fact  that  the  men 
with  Paul  saw  the  light  is  no  contradiction, 
neither  is  it  a  discrepancy.  But  in  the  first 
passage  it  is  definitely  stated  that  the  men 
heard  the  voice,  while  in  the  second  passage  it 
is  definitely  stated  that  they  heard  not  the  voice 
of  Him  who  spoke  to  Paul.  One  passage  af¬ 
firms  what  the  other  passage  denies.  Hence 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


81 


a  direct  contradiction.  Any  one  who  takes 
the  trouble  to  refer  to  the  Greek  original  will 
at  once  notice  that  the  construction  in  the  two 
passages  is  entirely  different.  In  the  first 
passage  the  word  translated  “hear”  is  con¬ 
strued  with  the  Accusative  case ;  in  the  second 
passage  it  is  construed  with  the  Genitive  case. 
The  difference  in  construction  designates  an 
important  difference  in  meaning.  In  the  pas¬ 
sage  where  the  word  meaning  “hear”  is  con¬ 
strued  with  the  Genitive  case,  it  is  not  the 
hearing  which  is  emphasized,  but  the  attention 
paid  to  that  which  is  heard.  A  more  correct 
translation  of  the  second  passage  is  the  follow¬ 
ing:  And  they  that  were  with  me  saw  indeed 
the  light,  and  were  afraid,  but  they  did  not  pay 
attention  to  the  voice  of  Him  that  spake  with 
me.  What  they  saw  filled  them  with  fear  to 
such  an  extent  that,  altho  they  heard  a  voice, 
they  paid  no  attention  to  it  or  to  what  it  said. 

There  is,  therefore,  no  foundation  for  claim¬ 
ing  a  contradiction  on  the  part  of  the  sacred 
writer.  It  is  the  translator  who  is  guilty  of 
inexactness. 

*  *  * 

Others  reject  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  be¬ 
cause  they  find  that  learned  men,  that  even 


82 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


theological  professors  and  clergymen,  refuse 
to  accept  it  as  a  fact.  There  are  many  matters 
whose  nature  are  such  that  the  unlearned  can¬ 
not  well  make  personal  investigations  but 
must  accept  the  verdict  of  the  learned.  The 
question  before  us  is  not  a  matter  of  that  kind. 
The  New  Testament  is  the  original  source  of 
information  regarding  Jesus.  It  is  written  in 
so  clear  a  style  and  in  so  simple  a  language 
that  those  who  know  how  to  read  are  able  to 
read  it  and  to  understand  what  it  teaches.  It 
is  not  much  learning  which  is  necessary  for 
the  apprehension  and  acceptance  of  its  great 
doctrines.  It  is  the  enlightenment  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  which  is  necessary.  The  gift  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  is  not  conditioned  by  much  learn¬ 
ing,  but  by  earnest  and  believing  prayer. 
(Luke  11: 13.) 

Learning  is  indeed  a  very  useful  instrument, 
which  is  worthy  of  great  respect.  But  it  is 
utterly  wrong  to  make  a  god  of  it  or  to  make 
gods  of  learned  men.  And  he,  who  rejects  the 
clearly  stated  truths  of  Scripture  for  the 
reason  that  some  learned  man  or  men  reject 
them,  becomes  guilty  of  idolatry.  On  him  the 
curse  of  the  law  rests.  “Thus  saith  the  Lord, 
Cursed  be  the  man  that  trusteth  in  man,  and 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


83 


maketh  flesh  his  arm,  and  whose  heart  de- 
parteth  from  the  Lord.”  (Jer.  17:  5.) 

The  learned  who  reject  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus,  reject  also  His  miracles,  His  divinity, 
His  atonement.  In  short,  they  reject  Jesus. 
They  simply  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  the 
Sadducees,  scribes,  and  high  priests — the 
learned  laymen,  teachers,  and  divines — of  the 
time  of  Jesus.  Let  us  remember  that  all  learn¬ 
ing  does  not  lead  to  spirituality  any  more  than 
all  physical  labor  develops  the  athlete.  There 
is  much  manual  labor  which,  if  persisted  in, 
will  destroy  the  athlete,  so  there  is  much 
learning  which  destroys  spirituality. 

*  * 

Others  reject  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  for 
the  reason  that  they  consider  it  an  impossi¬ 
bility  that  He  should  have  risen  from  the  dead. 
Thus  a  learned  man  can  state  in  considering 
the  resurrection  of  Jesus  as  an  explanation  of 
the  empty  grave,  that  tho  the  evidence  (for 
the  resurrection)  were  fifty  times  stronger 
than  it  is,  any  other  explanation  would  be 
preferable.  And  it  is  not  only  the  resurrec¬ 
tion  of  Jesus  which  is  considered  an  impossi¬ 
bility.  Every  miracle  is  declared  to  be  an  im¬ 
possibility. 


84 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


Impossibility  is  a  relative  term.  What  may 
be  impossible  for  one  person,  may  not  be  im¬ 
possible  for  another  person.  It  is  an  impos¬ 
sibility  for  an  infant  a  week  old  to  carry  a  49 
lb.  bag  of  flour,  but  it  is  a  small  matter  for  an 
ordinary  man.  Again,  what  is  impossible  for 
one  kind  of  being,  need  not  be  impossible  for 
a  being  of  a  higher  order.  The  fact  that  it  is 
an  impossibility  for  one  man  to  raise  another 
man  from  the  dead,  yes,  even  tho  it  is  impos¬ 
sible  for  him  to  see  how  it  can  be  done,  that 
does  not  make  it  an  impossibility  for  a  per¬ 
sonal  and  omnipotent  God. 

When  a  matter  is  declared  to  be  a  fact  by 
a  number  of  trustworthy  men  who  repeatedly 
have  personally  experienced  the  truth  of  the 
fact  by  the  legitimate  use  of  their  senses,  this 
fact  cannot  be  proven  false  by  stating  that  it 
is  impossible  that  the  fact  could  have  hap¬ 
pened.  Those  who  employ  this  method  of  ar¬ 
gumentation  copy  the  ignoramus  who  under¬ 
stands  neither  evidence  nor  argument,  and 
who,  therefore,  relies  on  his  own  knowledge 
and  experience  as  the  sole  criterion  of  what  is 
true. 

Suppose  some  one  fifty  years  ago  should 
have  maintained  that  some  day  men  would  be 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


85 


able  to  speak  with  one  another,  tho  thousands 
of  miles  apart.  How  many  would  not  have 
declared  this  impossible?  The  more  scientific 
objectors  would  have  called  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  experience  of  ages  as  well  as  the 
laws  governing  the  transmission  of  sound  thru 
space  conclusively  showed  that  it  could  not 
be  done.  When  the  telephone  was  invented 
and  perfected  it  became  very  possible.  Today 
we  can  do  what  would  have  been  declared  im¬ 
possible  a  dozen  years  ago.  With  the  inven¬ 
tion  of  the  wireless,  distance  here  on  earth  is 
practically  eliminated  as  far  as  sound  is  con¬ 
cerned.  Why?  Because  God  has  laid  down 
in  nature  remarkable  forces  and  laws.  These 
forces  and  laws  have  existed  from  creation, 
but  only  recently  has  man  learned  to  use  them. 
Why  should  it  be  impossible  for  the  Author 
of  life  to  raise  the  dead? 

“Why  should  it  be  thought  a  thing  incredible 
with  you,  that  God  should  raise  the  dead?” 
(Acts  26:  8.)  Paul  puts  this  question  to  king 
Agrippa,  who  knew  the  Old  Testament  Scrip¬ 
tures  and,  therefore,  also  knew  what  kind  of 
a  God  they  portray.  To  say  that  the  resur¬ 
rection  of  Jesus  from  the  dead  would  be  an 
impossibility  for  God,  as  He  is  revealed  in  the 


86 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


Scriptures,  shows  a  woeful  ignorance  of  facts 
or  a  fearfully  perverted  disposition. 

How  then  can  honorable  men,  men  who  do 
not  get  their  opinions  ready-made  from  others, 
claim  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  to  be  an  im¬ 
possibility?  For  this  reason:  They  do  not 
merely  reject  Jesus  as  the  Jews  rejected  Him, 
but  they  also  reject  God,  as  He  is  revealed  to 
us  in  the  Scriptures.  In  His  place  they  set 
up  a  god,  fashioned  by  their  own  intellect  ac¬ 
cording  to  their  own  understanding  and  desire. 
Even  tho  man  uses  his  intelligence  to  the  ut¬ 
most  to  make  his  god  exalted  and  perfect,  yet 
this  god  is  man-made;  hence  it  is  not  strange 
that  many  things  are  impossible  for  him. 

The  modern  man,  who  claims  to  be  at  the 
apex  of  the  evolution  of  the  human  race,  will 
accept  nothing  as  true,  which  does  not  coincide 
with  his  idea  of  how  a  thing  should  be.  Be¬ 
cause  it  does  not  fit  in  with  his  idea  of  God 
that  He  should  have  revealed  Himself,  as  the 
Scriptures  say  He  has  revealed  Himself,  there¬ 
fore,  the  Bible  is  discarded  as  the  Word  of 
God.  No,  God  cannot  be  a  being  of  that  kind. 
In  the  Bible,  God  tells  us  what  a  glorious  be¬ 
ginning  our  race  had  and  to  what  a  glorious 
goal  He  desires  to  raise  it  thru  Christ.  Mod- 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


87 


ern  man,  clinging  to  his  man-made  doctrines 
says,  “No,  that  is  all  wrong!  It  cannot  be  that 
way.  If  what  the  Bible  teaches  is  true,  then 
our  doctrines  are  wrong,  and  they  must  be 
right.”  Yes,  so  stupendous  has  man’s  knowl¬ 
edge  of  God  become,  since  he  discarded  a 
divine  revelation  and  depends  for  his  knowl¬ 
edge  of  God  on  his  own  speculations,  that  he 
has  discovered  that  God  is  too  moral  a  being 
to  perform  miracles.  Jesus  could  not  arise 
from  the  dead,  if  He  were  divine.  It  would 
have  been  wrong  of  Him  to  do  so.  God  could 
not  raise  Him  from  the  dead,  even  tho  He  had 
paid  in  full  the  penalty  of  the  world’s  sin.  It 
would  be  a  miracle  to  raise  Him  from  the  dead. 
God  is  too  moral  to  perform  miracles;  hence, 
Jesus  must  abide  in  the  grave. 

There  is  a  wisdom  of  God  and  there  is  a 
wisdom  of  man,  or  as  it  is  called,  the  wisdom 
of  this  world.  They  are  very  different.  The 
one  is  the  wisdom  of  a  being  with  infinite 
knowledge,  infinite  power  to  act,  and  with  the 
will  to  act  according  to  purposes  wholly  noble 
and  good.  The  other  is  the  wisdom  of  a  being 
with  very  limited  knowledge  of  the  real  nature 
of  things,  with  small  power  to  act;  a  being  of 
selfish  aims  and  purposes.  The  wisdom  of 


88 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


God  must,  therefore,  be  wholly  different  from 
the  wisdom  of  man.  When  man  rejects  the 
wisdom  of  God  and  relies  on  man’s  wisdom, 
he  necessarily  must  go  wrong,  for  he  starts 
out  on  the  wrong  road.  In  other  words,  as  he 
starts  his  thinking  from  a  false  premise,  his 
conclusion  must  be  wrong.  Therefore  Paul 
says:  “The  world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God.” 
(I  Cor.  1:  21.) 

The  person  who  holds  the  principle  that 
man’s  wisdom  is  sufficient  or  supreme  is,  in 
the  terminology  of  the  Scriptures,  carnal. 
“But  the  carnal  man  receiveth  not  the  things 
of  the  Spirit  of  God:  for  they  are  foolishness 
unto  him:  neither  can  he  know  them,  because 
they  are  spiritually  discerned.”  (I  Cor.  2:  14.) 
Such  a  person  may  be  in  great  need  of  many 
things,  but  what  he  needs  above  all  else  is  what 
Nicodemus  needed,  namely  a  new  birth,  a  birth 
from  above,  a  spiritual  birth  in  order  to  become 
a  partaker  of  the  wisdom  of  God. 

It  is  nothing  less  than  Sanatic  haughtiness 
on  the  part  of  man  to  reject  the  wisdom  of 
God,  revealed  to  us  in  the  Scriptures.  Pride 
goeth  before  a  fall.  And  a  terrible  fall  fol¬ 
lows:  God  is  either  denied,  or  He  is  elimi¬ 
nated  from  the  world  and  the  affairs  and  des- 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


89 


tiny  of  man,  or  He  is  inseparably  mingled  with 
the  universe  in  such  a  way  as  to  limit  His  in¬ 
telligence  to  the  sum  total  of  man’s  intelligence 
and  to  make  His  knowledge  grow  only  as 
much  and  as  fast  as  man’s  knowledge  grows. 
Thus  proving  the  statement  of  Paul:  “Pro¬ 
fessing  themselves  wise,  they  became  fools.” 
(Rom.  1:  22.) 

To  live  contrary  to  the  laws  of  health  weak¬ 
ens  our  physical  powers.  To  live  contrary  to 
the  laws  which  govern  our  life  as  intelligent, 
moral  beings  weakens  this  life.  A  very  fun¬ 
damental  law  in  this  life  is  that  it  is  right  to 
accept  the  reality  of  a  fact,  which  has  been 
carefully  investigated  into,  and  which  is  testi¬ 
fied  to  by  several  trustworthy  witnesses .  The 
resurrection  of  Jesus  from  the  dead  is  such 
a  fact.  The  real  reason  for  rejecting  it  is 
manifestly  not  the  lack  of  testimony  of  the 
highest  order.  The  real  reason  is  that  a 
miracle  is  not  comprehensible  to  our  natural 
reason. 

From  the  open  grave  of  Jesus  Christ  the 
rays  of  God’s  power,  wisdom,  and  love  shine 
forth  in  resplendent  glory,  illuminating  not 
only  life  on  this  side  the  grave,  but  eternity  it¬ 
self.  Shall  we  walk  in  this  full  light,  or  shall 


90 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


we  forsake  it  to  follow  those  who  grope  about 
in  darkness,  guided  only  by  the  flickering 
candlelight  of  natural  reason? 

Man  is  strangely  inconsistent!  Thus  it 
seems  to  be  becoming  fashionable  in  our  day 
for  men,  who  reject  the  splendidly  established 
fact  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus,  saying  it  is 
too  unreasonable  to  be  true,  to  turn  to  those 
“that  peep  and  that  mutter”  (Is.  8:  19)  for 
clear  speech  concerning  the  hereafter,  and  to 
seek  in  the  darkened  seance  chamber  for  light 
on  immortality.  They  turn  from  a  church 
which  is  built  on  historical  facts,  a  church 
which  stands  for  truth,  come  what  may,  to 
embrace  a  superstitious  cult  which  is  de¬ 
nounced  and  forbidden  in  the  Word  of  God; 
a  cult  which  is  notorious  for  trickery  and  de¬ 
ceit.  Truly  a  somersault  with  a  vengeance! 
First  discard  the  Word  of  God  because  all  its 
teachings  are  not  conformable  to  human  rea¬ 
son,  then  discard  reason  in  order  to  embrace 
superstition. 


CHAPTER  NINE 


ADDITIONAL  PROOFS  FOR  THE  RESURRECTION 

OF  JESUS 

I.  The  Report  of  the  Guard  at  the  Grave 

“Now  when  they  [the  women]  were  going, 
behold,  some  of  the  watch  came  into  the  city, 
and  shewed  unto  the  chief  priests  all  the  things 
that  were  done.  And  when  they  were  assem¬ 
bled  with  the  elders,  and  had  taken  council, 
they  gave  large  money  unto  the  soldiers,  say¬ 
ing,  Say  ye,  His  disciples  came  by  night,  and 
stole  Him  away  while  we  slept.  And  if  this 
comes  to  the  governor’s  ears,  we  will  persuade 
him,  and  secure  you.  So  they  took  the  money, 
and  did  as  they  were  taught :  and  this  saying  is 
commonly  reported  among  the  Jews  until  this 
day.”  (Matt.  28:  11-15.) 

This  explains  why  the  leaders  of  the  coun¬ 
cil  did  not,  when  the  Apostles  were  brought  be¬ 
fore  that  august  body,  meet  the  bold  confes¬ 
sion  of  the  Apostles  by  an  equally  bold  denial. 
They  were  convinced  that  the  Roman  soldiers 
had  told  the  truth.  Had  they  not  been  cer- 


92 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


tain  that  the  Roman  soldiers  were  telling  them 
the  truth,  they  would  have  held  them  in  deri¬ 
sion  and  laughed  at  their  report.  They  would 
have  demanded  of  Pilate  that  he  punish  the 
guard  for  leaving  their  post  before  they  were 
relieved  from  duty.  Instead  of  persecuting 
the  soldiers,  they  gave  them  “large  money.” 
Why,  if  not  to  bribe  them  to  tell  a  lie? 

But  how  could  this  transaction  become 
known?  That  the  leaders  among  the  Jews 
did  not  spread  the  news  of  it,  we  can  well 
understand.  But  it  must  have  been  a  very 
difficult  thing  for  these  soldiers  to  keep  silent 
about  the  remarkable  occurrence  at  the  grave. 
And  we  must  notice,  it  was  only  “some  of  the 
watch”  who  went  to  the  high  priest  and  were 
bribed.  The  others  would  spread  the  true  re¬ 
port.  The  bribed  ones  would  soon  admit  why 
they  spread  a  false  report.  The  money  was 
already  in  their  possession. 

II.  The  Rise  of  the  Christian  Church 

Jesus  was  crucified  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem. 
Fifty  days  after  the  crucifixion,  the  Apostles 
began  publicly  to  preach,  in  this  same  city, 
that  Jesus  arose  from  the  dead  on  the  third 
day.  This  shows,  as  was  said,  not  merely 
courage  on  the  part  of  the  Apostles,  it  shows 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


93 


an  unshakable  conviction  of  the  truth  of  their 
message. 

This  preaching  bore  remarkable  fruit. 
Thousands  were  convinced  of  the  resurrection 
and  Messiahship  of  Jesus.  Scarcely  had  the 
bold  preachers  begun  their  work,  however,  be¬ 
fore  the  Sadducees,  the  rationalists  of  that  age, 
“being  grieved  that  they  taught  the  people  and 
preached  thru  Jesus  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead”  (Acts  4:2),  laid  hands  on  Peter  and 
John,  who  at  the  time  were  preaching  in  the 
temple,  and  put  them  in  jail. 

The  next  day  the  two  Apostles  were  brought 
before  the  “rulers,  and  elders,  and  scribes,  and 
Annas  the  high  priest,  Caiaphas,  and  John, 
and  Alexander,  and  as  many  as  were  of  the 
kindred  of  the  high  priest.”  (Acts  4:5,  6.) 
Since  so  august  a  body  assembled  to  sit  in 
judgment  on  these  two  fishermen,  we  can  un¬ 
derstand  what  a  tremendous  shakeup  the 
preaching  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  gave 
these  men,  who  had  convicted  Jesus  and  had 
caused  Him  to  be  put  to  death.  Nor  did  it 
put  them  more  at  ease,  when  Peter  and  John 
boldly  accused  them  of  the  murder  of  Jesus 
and  exultingly  proclaimed  Him  the  Messiah, 
raised  by  God  from  the  dead. 


94 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


Why  did  not  the  men,  here  present,  who 
had  caused  the  guard  of  Roman  soldiers  to 
be  placed  at  the  grave,  and  who  had  received 
from  this  guard  a  report  of  “all  the  things  that 
were  done”  there, — why  did  they  not  flatly 
deny  the  resurrection  of  Jesus?  Why  did  they 
not  prove  that  He  did  not  arise  from  the  dead  ? 
Were  they  so  ignorant  as  not  to  know  that  the 
best  way  of  stopping  the  mouth  of  these 
preachers  and  of  making  their  preaching 
harmless  was  to  show  that  the  content  of  the 
preaching  was  false?  They  did  not  deny  that 
Jesus  arose  from  the  dead.  They  knew  it  to 
be  true.  They  knew  that  Peter  and  John 
knew  that  Jesus  actually  had  risen  from  the 
dead.  So  they  had  to  be  content  with  com¬ 
manding  the  Apostles  strictly  “not  to  speak 
at  all  nor  teach  in  the  name  of  Jesus”.  (Acts 
4:  18.)  With  wonderful  wisdom  Peter  and 
John  answered:  “Whether  it  be  right  in  the 
sight  of  God  to  hearken  unto  you  more  than 
unto  God,  judge  ye.  For  we  cannot  but  speak 
the  things  which  we  have  seen  and  heard.” 
(Acts  4:  19,  20.) 

From  this  answer  the  judges  knew  that  the 
preaching  would  continue.  From  their  oppo¬ 
sition  to  this  preaching,  we  can  understand 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


95 


that  these  mighty  men  would  use  every  means 
in  their  power  to  bring  to  naught  the  preach¬ 
ing  of  these  “unlearned  and  ignorant  men”. 
(Acts  4: 13.)  They  would,  therefore,  gather 
and  publish  broadcast  every  evidence  obtain¬ 
able  to  prove  that  Jesus  remained  dead.  Liv¬ 
ing  in  the  city  where  it  all  happened,  having 
at  their  disposal  the  necessary  means  and 
power,  it  should  have  been  an  easy  matter  for 
them  to  prove  this,  if  the  Apostles  were  pro¬ 
claiming  a  falsehood.  In  spite  of  their  efforts, 
the  preaching  of  the  Apostles  gained  ground, 
for  “God  hath  chosen  the  weak  things  of  this 
world  to  confound  the  things  which  are 
mighty.”  (I  Cor.  1:  27.) 

The  members  of  the  council  did  not  take 
this  lightly.  They  were  “filled  with  indigna¬ 
tion”  (Acts  5:17)  and  resorted  to  the  means 
always  employed  by  unscrupulous  men,  who 
have  the  power;  they  used  force.  The  Apos¬ 
tles,  this  time  seemingly  all  of  them,  were 
again  arrested  and  thrown  into  prison. 

The  angel  of  the  Lord  delivered  them  from 
the  prison  this  time ;  and  he  urged  them  to  con¬ 
tinue  to  preach  in  the  temple  to  the  people. 
When  the  officers  came  to  fetch  them  from  the 
prison,  they  found  the  prison  shut  and  the 


96 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


keepers  before  the  doors,  but  the  prison  was 
empty.  “Now  when  the  high  priest  and  the 
captain  of  the  temple  and  the  chief  priests 
heard  these  things,  they  doubted  of  them 
whereunto  this  would  lead.”  (Acts  5:24.) 
Receiving  word  that  the  men,  whom  they 
thought  were  in  prison,  were  as  a  matter  of 
fact  preaching  in  the  temple,  the  captain  of 
the  temple  went  with  the  officers  to  bring  them 
to  trial.  However,  they  dared  not  use  violence 
for  fear  of  being  stoned  by  the  people. 

This  time  the  Apostles  were  brought  before 
the  council  and  “all  the  senate  of  the  children 
of  Israel.”  (Acts  5:  21.)  The  high  priest  ad¬ 
dressed  them.  eHe  is  indignant,  but  is  never¬ 
theless  unable  to  conceal  his  fear.  He  says: 
“Did  not  we  straitly  command  you  that  ye 
should  not  teach  in  this  name?  And,  behold, 
ye  have  filled  Jerusalem  with  your  doctrine, 
and  intend  to  bring  this  man’s  blood  upon  us.” 
(Acts  5:28.)  A  most  influential  doctor  of 
law  in  this  assembly,  who  probably  was  ig¬ 
norant  of  the  report  brought  by  the  guard  at 
the  grave,  and  who  manifestly  had  been  pow¬ 
erfully  impressed  by  the  testimony  of  the 
Apostles,  succeeded  in  preventing  a  death 
sentence  from  being  passed  by  reminding  his 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


97 


colleagues  that  if  the  Apostolic  message  was 
of  men,  it  would  of  itself  come  to  naught, 
while  if  it  was  of  God,  they  could  not  stop  it. 
The  Apostles  were  beaten,  however,  and  again 
commanded  not  to  speak  in  the  name  of  Jesus. 

How  can  anyone  escape  the  conviction  that 
the  powerful  and  resourceful  council,  which 
forced  the  mighty  Roman  governor  to  pass 
against  his  will  the  death  sentence  on  Jesus, 
must  have  used  every  means  within  its  im¬ 
mense  power  to  prove  that  Jesus  did  not  rise 
from  the  dead?  And  how  can  anyone  avoid 
the  conviction  that  if  Jesus  remained  dead, 
the  council  must  have  been  able  to  prove  this 
so  convincingly  that  the  Apostles  would  have 
been  laughed  out  of  town  without  a  single 
follower?  Instead  of  this  happening,  a  mighty 
congregation  was  established  there;  a  congre¬ 
gation  consisting,  not  only  of  the  common  peo¬ 
ple,  but  of  “a  great  company  of  the  priests 
[who]  were  obedient  to  the  faith”.  (Acts  6:7.) 

Deny  the  miracle  of  our  Lord’s  resurrec-  . 
tion  from  the  dead,  and  the  rise  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  church  becomes  a  miracle  absolutely  in 
a  class  by  itself.  The  miracles  of  the  Bible,  the 
resurrection  included,  are  readily  explained  as 
acts  performed  for  a  gracious  purpose  by  a 


98 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


personal  and  omnipotent  God.  If  the  Chris¬ 
tian  church  is  built  on  a  falsehood  and  for  the 
purpose  of  propagating  that  falsehood,  the 
miracle  of  its  origin  cannot  be  assigned  to 
divine  aid.  Moreover,  it  must  be  evident  that 
these  eleven  fishermen  and  Paul,  even  if  they 
were  supermen,  could  not  have  built  a  church 
of  the  character  of  the  Christian  church  on  a 
falsehood. 

The  struggles  we  have  mentioned  in  this 
chapter  were  not  the  only  ones  the  Apostles 
had  in  founding  the  church  in  Jerusalem.  It 
was  only  the  beginning.  The  sane  and  humane 
counsel  of  Gamaliel  was  ignored  just  as  soon 
as  the  leaders  discovered,  thru  the  stoning  of 
Stephen,  that  they  could  rely  on  the  fury  of 
the  mob.  Tho  Stephen  died,  as  did  Jesus, 
praying  for  his  murderers,  his  death  became 
the  signal  for  a  bloody  persecution  against  the 
disciples  of  Jesus.  The  leaders  of  this  perse¬ 
cution  were,  to  begin  with,  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities.  Soon  they  were  joined  by  the  civil 
authorities  with  king  Herod  in  active  par¬ 
ticipation.  (Acts  12:  1-6.)  The  purpose  for 
which  Jewish  church  and  state  united  was  to 
destroy  Christianity  completely.  They  failed, 
for  they  fought  against  God,  who  has  means 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


99 


whereby  the  weak  can  confound  the  mighty. 
(I  Cor.  1:27.)  True,  the  disciples  were  scat¬ 
tered  abroad,  but  as  they  “went  everywhere 
preaching  the  Word”  (Acts  8:4),  the  perse¬ 
cution  helped  to  spread  far  and  wide  (Acts 
11:  19)  the  message  and  the  church  it  sought 
to  destroy;  for  the  risen  Lord  Jesus  was  with 
His  feeble  instruments. 

III.  The  Testimony  of  the  Christian  Church 

(1)  In  its  Confessions 

The  Christian  church  was  founded  in  Jeru¬ 
salem  thru  preaching  the  crucified  and  resur¬ 
rected  Jesus  Christ.  In  a  comparatively  short 
time  it  was  established  also  in  the  more  impor¬ 
tant  centers,  not  only  of  Palestine,  but  of 
Syria,  Asia  Minor,  Macedonia,  Greece,  Italy, 
Babylonia,  and  other  countries.  In  fact  thru- 
out  the  whole  civilized  world  of  that  period. 
And  everywhere  it  was  founded  by  preaching 
the  same  message.  Jesus  commanded  that  all 
nations  should  be  made  His  disciples,  and  this 
work  has  been  carried  on  down  thru  the  cen¬ 
turies,  until  the  church  is  spread  practically 
over  the  face  of  the  whole  earth.  Wherever  it 
has  come,  it  has  come  by  preaching  the  same 


100 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


fundamental  truths,  proclaimed  by  the  Apos¬ 
tles  in  Jerusalem.  There  is  no  break  in  this 
testimony  as  there  is  no  break  in  the  existence 
of  the  church.  Each  succeeding  generation  of 
Christians  has  sprung  from  its  preceding  gen¬ 
eration,  from  the  time  of  Peter  and  Paul  to  our 
own  day.  In  every  age  and  in  every  clime  the 
church  has  steadfastly  confessed  the  resurrec¬ 
tion  of  Jesus.  To  be  sure,  there  have  been 
within  its  portals  in  every  age  traitors,  who 
have  denied  and  sought  to  pervert  its  faith. 
But  even  in  the  ages  when  they  were  most  nu¬ 
merous  and  powerful,  the  church  steadfastly 
proclaimed  in  its  confession  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus  to  be  a  fact. 

It  is,  indeed,  sad  to  know  that  the  Chris¬ 
tian  church  is  divided  into  so  many  denomina¬ 
tions  because  of  doctrinal  differences.  An¬ 
other  proof,  if  it  were  necessary,  that  sin 
abounds  so  that  man  needs  a  divine  Redeemer, 
whose  grace  abounds  much  more.  (Rom.  5: 
20.)  But  notice!  Divided  tho  the  church 
may  be  because  of  disagreements  in  many  mat¬ 
ters,  there  is  perfect  agreement  regarding  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus.  Every  Christian  de¬ 
nomination,  every  Christian  sect  has  con¬ 
fessed  and  does  now  with  one  mouth  confess  in 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


101 


the  Creed:  He  “arose  again  on  the  third  day.” 
This  perfect  agreement  prevails  not  only  when 
the  ancient  and  brief  confession,  which  we  call 
the  Creed,  is  used;  the  agreement  prevails  just 
as  fully  in  elaborate  confessions  prepared  by 
the  different  Christian  denominations  in  dif¬ 
ferent  ages. 

Nearly  twenty  centuries  of  consistent  testi¬ 
mony!  Contrast  this  with  the  changing  phil¬ 
osophical  systems,  which  are  the  evershifting 
grounds  of  all  unbelief,  excepting  the  most 
vulgar!  Truth  stands  forth  firm  and  un¬ 
changing  as  the  “everlasting  hills”.  Error  is 
unstable  and  fickle  as  the  quagmire. 

(2)  In  its  Festivals 

The  whole  Christian  church  celebrates  two 
festive  days  which,  from  the  very  beginning  to 
our  own  day,  have  constituted  a  definite  testi¬ 
mony  to  the  resurrection  of  Jesus.  These  fes¬ 
tive  days  are  Sunday  and  Easter  Sunday. 
Sunday  is  the  weekly  and  Easter  Sunday  the 
yearly  return  of  that  glorious  first  Easter  Sun¬ 
day,  glorious  for  the  only  reason  that  Jesus 
arose  from  the  dead  on  that  day. 

The  Christian  church  had  its  origin  in  Pal¬ 
estine,  the  land  of  the  Jews.  The  first  mem- 


102 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


bership  was  Jewish.  Furthermore,  Chris¬ 
tianity  is  the  Jewish  religion  in  its  fruitage. 
But  the  Jews  had  for  ages,  ever  since  their 
origin  as  an  independent  people,  celebrated 
Saturday  as  their  weekly  holiday.  The  Mosaic 
law  commanded  them  most  emphatically  to  do 
this.  The  Apostles  were  Jews,  who  continued 
to  observe  the  Jewish  Sabbath  as  well  as  the 
other  Jewish  festivals.  From  earliest  child¬ 
hood  they  had  been  accustomed  to  meet  for 
public  worship  on  the  seventh  day  of  the  week. 
Yet  we  find  that  they  honor  the  first  day  of 
the  week  with  the  name  “The  Lord’s  day”, 
and  that  they  use  this  day  for  public  worship. 
Why  this  honoring  of  the  first  day  of  the  week  ? 
Why  should  it  be  called  the  Lord’s  day  in 
preference  to  other  days?  Why  should  this 
day  especially  be  a  day  of  praise  and  thanks¬ 
giving?  There  is  one  adequate  reason  and 
only  one.  It  is  this:  Jesus  arose  from  the 
dead  on  that  day,  thus  triumphing  over  His 
and  our  enemies.  It  is  indeed  the  Lord’s  day. 

The  origin  of  Sunday  as  the  day  for  public 
worship  and  its  name  “The  Lord’s  day”  are 
inexplicable  without  the  resurrection  of  Jesus. 
The  resurrection  accepted,  every  one  sees  how 
fitting  and  perfectly  natural  it  is  that  the  first 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


103 


day  of  the  week  should  be  called  “The  Lord’s 
day”  and  become  the  day  for  rejoicing  and 
thanksgiving. 

*  *  * 

Jesus  was  crucified  the  day  before  the  Jew¬ 
ish  festival  of  the  Passover,  and  He  arose 
again  from  the  dead  the  day  after  this  festive 
day.  The  yearly  return  of  this  festival  would 
then  bring  the  anniversary  of  Christ’s  resur¬ 
rection.  As  the  Jews  commemorated  one 
event  and  the  Christians  commemorated  an¬ 
other,  the  early  Christian  church  determined 
the  time  for  Easter  in  such  a  manner  that  it 
would  not  coincide  with  the  Passover.  Easter 
is  the  yearly  commemoration  of  the  resurrec¬ 
tion  of  Jesus;  and  the  Christians  did  not  want 
it  to  appear  as  if  they  joined  with  the  Jews 
in  celebrating  the  deliverance  from  Egypt. 
That  event  was,  indeed,  a  great  and  gracious 
act  of  God;  but  Easter  commemorates  a  far 
greater  one.  Christ  proclaimed  by  His  resur¬ 
rection  that  He  had  truly  delivered,  not  one 
people  merely,  but  mankind,  not  from  the 
bodily  bondage  under  a  prince  of  this  world, 
but  from  the  bondage  of  sin  under  the  sceptre 
of  the  Prince  of  Darkness. 


104 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


More  than  three  hundred  years  passed  by 
before  the  Christian  church  began  to  celebrate 
the  Christmas  festival.  Easter,  on  the  other 
hand,  has  been  celebrated  every  year  since  that 
first  Easter  Sunday.  Every  year  it  has  been 
celebrated  in  commemoration  of  Christ’s  resur¬ 
rection  from  the  dead.  Few  indeed  are  the 
events  of  history  authenticated  in  so  forceful 
a  way! 

IV.  The  Testimony  of  the  Enemies 

When  the  terrified  Roman  guard  had  re¬ 
ported  to  the  chief  priests  what  had  occurred 
at  the  grave  of  Jesus  early  Easter  morning, 
the  chief  priests  called  in  the  elders  of  the  peo¬ 
ple  and,  after  consulting  together,  bribed  the 
guard  to  spread  the  report  that  disciples  of  Je¬ 
sus  came  during  the  night  and  stole  the  body, 
while  they  slept.  This  explanation  of  the 
empty  grave  was  commonly  reported  among 
the  Jews  up  to  the  time  that  Matthew  wrote 
his  gospel.  (Matt.  28: 15.)  It  may  be  of  in¬ 
terest  to  note  what  the  learned  Jew,  Alfred 
Edersheim,  says  concerning  this  explanation. 
“Whatever  else  may  be  said,  we  know  that 
from  the  time  of  Justin  Martyr  this  has  been 
the  Jewish  explanation.  Of  late,  however,  it 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


105 


has,  among  thoughtful  Jewish  writers,  given 
place  to  the  socalled  ‘Vision-hypothesis’.” 
(Life  and  Times  of  the  Messiah;  vol.  II,  page 
637,  5th  ed.) 

This  denial  of  the  resurrection  is,  in  fact, 
a  most  excellent  testimony  to  the  truth  of  it. 
In  the  first  place  it  is  admitted,  by  these  first' 
opponents* That  the  grave  was  empty  in  the 
morning  of  the  third  day  after  the  burial  of 
Jesus.  Friend  and  foe  admit  that  the  grave 
was  empty  at  the  time  stated.  This  is  of  the 
greatest  importance.  Can  a  fact  be  more  fully 
attested  to  than  the  empty  grave  is  attested  to? 
In  the  second  place  it  is  admitted  that  the 
enemies  of  Jesus  had  not  taken  the  body  away. 
In  the  third  place,  the  charge  that  the  disciples 
of  Jesus  came  during  the  night  and  stole  the 
body,  while  the  guard  slept,  is  not  made  in 
good  faith.  For  the  leaders  among  the  Jews 
were,  as  we  have  seen,  very  anxious  to  prove 
that  Jesus  did  not  arise  from  the  dead.  Hence, 
if  they  had  believed  that  the  Roman  guard 
had  been  remiss  in  their  duty,  they  would  have 
spared  no  effort  to  prove  this  and  to  have  had 
the  soldiers  punished  for  their  neglect  accord¬ 
ing  to  Roman  law.  To  do  this,  they  would 
at  once  have  brought  to  the  Roman  governor 


106 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


a  formal  charge  against  his  soldiers.  He  could 
not  have  passed  by  in  silence  so  grave  an  ac¬ 
cusation  as  that  a  Roman  soldier  had  slept, 
while  on  guard  duty.  An  investigation  would 
have  followed.  The  facts  in  the  case  would 
have  become  public.  Why  did  not  the  Jewish 
leaders  bring  this  charge  against  the  soldiers? 
Can  there  be  any  other  reason  than  this  that 
they  were  convinced  of  the  fact  that  the  sol¬ 
diers  had  not  been  remiss  in  their  duty?  For 
fear  of  an  investigation,  these  leaders  did  not 
even  dare  to  assert  publicly  that  the  guard 
had  slept  at  their  post.  They  bribed  the  sol¬ 
diers  to  make  this  statement.  In  addition  to 
the  money  given  the  soldiers,  they  promised 
to  make  the  necessary  explanation  to  the  gov¬ 
ernor,  should  the  matter  come  to  his  attention. 

The  report  these  bribed  soldiers  spread  bore 
the  seal  of  falsehood.  How  could  they  know 
that  it  was  disciples  of  Jesus  who  stole  the 
body,  if  they  were  asleep?  Would  a  guard  on 
duty,  even  if  they  did  slumber,  sleep  so  soundly 
that  they  would  not  have  heard  the  noise  of 
those,  who  had  to  remove  the  great  stone, 
rolled  before  the  opening  of  the  grave?  If 
they  awoke,  when  the  stone  was  rolled  away, 
and  saw  that  the  disciples  were  stealing  the 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


107 


body,  why  did  they  not  pursue  and  capture 
the  men,  who  were  burdened  with  the  body  of 
a  dead  man? 

It  is  a  common  thing  for  those  who  deny 
the  resurrection  of  our  Lord  to  make  much 
noise  about  the  fact  that  one  Evangelist  does 
not  mention  matters  which  another  Evangelist 
relates.  They  even  claim  that  silence  on  the 

part  of  an  Evangelist,  concerning  matters  re¬ 
lated  by  other  Evangelists,  is  proof  that  the 
first  Evangelist  is  ignorant  of  the  matters  re¬ 
lated  by  the  others;  as  if  the  sacred  writers 
were  in  duty  bound  to  relate  everything  about 
Jesus  of  which  they  had  any  knowledge.  But 
the  silence  on  the  part  of  the  leaders  of  the 
Jews  respecting  a  reasonable  explanation  of 
the  empty  grave;  their  silence  in  presenting 
proofs  against  the  resurrection  of  Jesus;  their 
silence  in  preferring  charges  against  the  sol¬ 
diers, — all  speak  in  a  clear  and  emphatic  lan¬ 
guage.  There  was  a  multitude  of  things  to 
relate  about  Jesus.  The  Evangelists  had  to 
make  a  choice.  Each  chose  what  he,  under  the 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  considered  most 
important.  The  leaders  of  the  Jews  desired 
to  disprove  the  resurrection  of  Jesus.  When 
they  bring  no  proofs,  it  must  be  because  they 


108 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


had  none.  They  have  to  admit  that  the  grave 
is  empty,  as  it  would  be  if  Jesus  arose.  When 
they  who  had  had  the  grave  sealed  and  a  guard 
placed  there  could  not  give  a  better  explana¬ 
tion  of  the  empty  grave  than  they  did  give,  it 
must  be  because  the  only  good,  the  only  true 
explanation  was  that  given  by  the  Apostles: 
“The  Lord  is  risen  indeed.” 

V.  Proofs  Deducible  from  the  Arguments  of 

Those  Who ,  from  the  Apostolic  Age  to 
Our  Own  Day,  Deny  the  Resur¬ 
rection  of  Jesus . 

That  the  grave  of  Jesus  was  empty  in  the 
morning  of  the  third  day  after  the  burial,  is 
definitely  stated  by  the  sacred  writers.  We 
saw  how  the  women,  how  Peter  and  John  had 
carefully  investigated  the  matter.  This  im¬ 
portant  fact  was  conceded  by  the  enemies  of 
Jesus.  When  they  who  had  caused  the  grave 
to  be  sealed  and  a  guard  of  soldiers  placed 
there,  admit  that  the  grave  was  empty,  it  be¬ 
comes  a  fact  incontestably  certain.  It  is  ad¬ 
mitted  at  the  time  by  all.  Yet  men  who  lived 
1800  years  after  the  events  expect  us  to  take 
their  word  for  it  that  the  grave  was  not  empty. 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


109 


That  the  enemies  admitted  the  grave  to  be 
empty,  we  know  from  the  fact  that  they  ac¬ 
cused  the  disciples  of  stealing  the  body.  We 
know  it  also  from  the  fact  that  the  Apostolic 
message  gained  such  ground  in  Jerusalem. 

Jesus  had  at  various  times  foretold  His  res¬ 
urrection  on  the  third  day.  The  enemies,  who 
always  were  on  the  lookout  for  some  word  or 
act  of  Jesus  which  they  might  be  able  to  use 
against  Him,  had  carefully  treasured  this 
prediction.  Convinced  in  their  own  mind  that 
He  was  an  impostor,  they  felt  certain  that  they 
had  at  least  one  saying  of  His  which  would  be 
proven  false.  He  would,  most  assuredly,  not 
arise  again  on  the  third  day.  But  care  must 
be  exercised,  lest  He  deceive  them.  He  might 
instruct  His  disciples  to  steal  the  body  out  of 
the  grave,  and  then  to  proclaim  that  He  had 
arisen  as  He  had  foretold.  Hence  the  need  of 
sealing  the  grave.  To  make  assurance  doubly 
sure,  they  placed  a  guard  of  Roman  soldiers 
there  to  keep  close  watch. 

Suppose  the  watch  continued  at  their  post, 
until  relieved  by  those  who  placed  them  there. 
When  the  third  day  was  over,  the  Jewish  lead¬ 
ers  would  come  and  inspect  the  seal  on  the 
stone  to  see  if  it  had  been  broken.  In  the 


110 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


presence  of  the  guard,  they  would  open  the 
grave  to  see  and  to  show  that  the  body  was  still 
there.  They  could  then  testify,  as  could  the 
guard,  that  the  body  was  still  in  the  grave  when 
they  examined  it.  He  had  not  arisen,  as  He 
claimed  He  would.  He  was  an  impostor,  as 
they  had  claimed  all  the  time.- — What  chance 
would  there  have  been  for  the  eleven  fishermen 
from  Galilee  to  fill  Jerusalem  with  their  doc¬ 
trine  and  to  drive  fear  into  the  heart  of  the 
high  priest  that  the  blood  of  Jesus  would  be 
brought  upon  him  and  his  colleagues!  If  the 
grave  had  not  been  empty  and  that  on  the  third 
day,  the  evidence  would  so  overwhelmingly 
have  been  against  the  Apostles  that  if  they  had 
persisted  in  preaching  their  unreasonable  doc¬ 
trine,  they  would  have  filled  Jerusalem  with 
laughter. 

The  grave  was  empty.  This  fact  conceded 
by  all  at  the  time  investigation  was  possible, 
must,  therefore,  be  taken  into  consideration  by 
all  who  deny  the  resurrection;  otherwise  the 
arguments  for  their  denial  are  of  no  value 
whatever.  To  argue  against  the  resurrec¬ 
tion  of  Jesus  without  explaining  how  the  grave 
became  empty,  shows  either  the  inability  to 
recognize  essential  facts  in  a  case;  or  it  shows 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


111 


a  determined  refusal  to  stick  to  and  abide  by 
facts. 

The  explanation  of  the  Jewish  leaders  was, 
as  we  have  seen,  unreasonable  and  absurd. 
Yet  it  took  into  consideration  the  empty  grave. 
They  realized  that  no  denial  of  the  resurrec¬ 
tion  would  be  worth  the  breath  expended  on 
it,  unless  it  at  the  same  time  explained  the 
empty  grave.  Nevertheless,  those  who  deny 
our  Lord’s  resurrection  can  be  divided  into 
two  classes.  The  one  class  takes  the  empty 
grave  into  consideration  and  tries  to  explain 
it.  The  other  class  offers  arguments  to  sustain 
their  denial,  arguments  which  leave  the  fact  of 
the  empty  grave  without  any  explanation. 

All  obtainable  evidence  on  the  empty  grave 
shows  that  the  grave  was  empty  for  the  reason 
that  Jesus  arose  from  the  dead.  As  those  who 
deny  the  resurrection  and  still  try  to  explain 
how  the  grave  became  empty,  cannot  discover 
an  explanation  which  can  be  supported  by  any 
evidence  whatsoever,  they  are  forced  to  resort 
to  guesses.  As  the  years  have  passed  by,  it 
has  become  more  and  more  evident  to  the  ob¬ 
jectors  that  the  accusation  against  the  disci¬ 
ples  for  stealing  the  body  is  utterly  groundless. 
Denying  the  resurrection,  they  must,  however, 


112 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


maintain  that  the  body  was  stolen.  Who  stole 
the  body?  Pilate  has  been  accused;  Joseph  of 
Arimathea  has  been  accused;  Mary  of  Beth¬ 
any  has  been  accused ;  yes,  even  the  council  of 
the  Jews  has  been  accused  of  stealing  the  body 
of  Jesus.  A  man  must  be  endowed  with  a 
marvelous  amount  of  faith  in  his  ability  to 
guess  or  with  an  unbounded  contempt  for 
other  people’s  ability  to  reason,  when  he  dares 
to  offer  seriously  such  a  guess  as  an  explana¬ 
tion  of  why  the  grave  of  Jesus  was  empty  in 
the  morning  of  the  third  day! 

There  is  an  explanation  of  the  empty  grave 
which  is  of  a  different  character  than  those 
mentioned  above.  It  is,  however,  just  as  un¬ 
reasonable  and  just  as  devoid  of  any  support¬ 
ing  evidence.  It  is  this:  Jesus  did  not  die 
on  the  cross.  He  seemed  dead,  but  He  was 
not  dead.  It  is  told  us  that  the  mixture  of 
myrrh  and  aloes,  placed  in  the  linen  wound 
around  the  body,  together  with  the  balmy 
spring  air,  enclosed  in  the  grave,  revived  Him. 
Having  come  to  life  again  in  this  natural  man¬ 
ner,  He  forced  the  stone  from  the  opening 
of  the  sepulchre  and  walked  away. 

What  a  perfectly  easy  and  natural  explana¬ 
tion!  But  is  it  not  strange  that  the  guard  did 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


113 


not  understand  this  and  that  the  Jewish  lead¬ 
ers  were  unable  to  see  into  the  real  state  of 
affairs?  i  -  j 

Let  us  notice  what  this  explanation  of  the 
empty  grave  implies.  Crucifixion  was  a  Ro¬ 
man  method  of  inflicting  the  death  penalty  on 
criminals.  Yet  we  are  here  told  that  Roman 
soldiers  were  not  able  to  ascertain  when  a  man 
was  dead.  Tho  the  soldiers  considered  Jesus 
dead,  they  pierced  His  side  with  a  spear,  thus 
inflicting  a  wound  deadly  enough  to  kill  any 
man,  even  if  he  were  in  perfect  condition  and 
in  the  best  of  health.  Jesus  had  passed  a  night 
of  the  most  intense  spiritual  anguish  in  the 
garden  of  Gethsemane.  This  hour  of  sorrow 
had  scarcely  passed  when  He  was  arrested  and 
brought  to  trial,  first  before  Annas,  then  be¬ 
fore  the  Council,  later  before  Pilate,  then  be¬ 
fore  king  Herod,  and  again  before  Pilate.  He 
had  been  scourged,  beaten  with  fists,  crowned 
with  a  crown  of  thorns.  He  had  carried  His 
cross  until  He  became  so  exhausted  that  He 
sank  under  its  load.  At  nine  o’clock  in  the 
forenoon  He  was  crucified;  from  then  on  un¬ 
til  shortly  before  sundown  He  hung  on  the 
cross,  suspended  by  the  nails  driven  thru  His 
hands  and  His  feet.  Finally  His  side  was 


114 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


pierced  by  the  spear-thrust  of  a  soldier. 
W ater  and  blood  flowed  from  this  wound,  thus 
showing  that  He  was  dead.  Yet  we  are  told 
in  the  explanation  under  consideration,  that 
He  was  not  dead  and  that  in  the  morning  of 
the  third  day  after,  His  strength  had  recovered 
to  such  an  extent  that  He  could  roll  the  great 
stone  away  and  walk  out.  On  His  pierced  feet 
He  walks  that  same  day  to  Emmaus,  is  back 
in  Jerusalem  by  evening.  He  comes  again  the 
next  Sunday  evening.  No  one  knows  where 
He  is  in  the  meantime.  No  one  gives  Him 
medical  aid.  This  continues  for  forty  days. 
The  bitter  enemies  do  not  find  Him.  No  one 
but  disciples  see  Him.  If  anyone  is  so  deter¬ 
mined  in  his  refusal  to  accept  the  testimony 
of  the  trustworthy  Apostles,  testimony  sup¬ 
ported  by  evidence  of  the  highest  order,  that 
he  prefers  this  explanation,  I  suppose  nothing 
can  be  done  to  hinder  it.  Eut,  surely,  his  heart 
is  hardened. 

Another  explanation  seemingly  takes  the 
empty  grave  into  consideration,  but  only  seem¬ 
ingly.  It  is  told  us  that,  when  the  women 
early  Easter  morning  came  for  the  purpose 
of  anointing  the  body  of  Jesus,  they  did  not 
come  to  the  right  grave.  They  had  not  taken 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


115 


sufficient  care  in  noticing  the  exact  grave  in 
which  the  body  of  Jesus  was  laid.  We  are 
informed,  furthermore,  of  another  mistake  by 
the  women  that  morning.  They  thought  that 
they  saw  an  angel  at  the  grave  of  Jesus.  This 
was  not  an  angel,  it  was  merely  a  young  man 
who,  noticing  that  the  women  had  come  to 
the  wrong  grave,  an  empty  one,  tried  to  tell 
them  of  their  mistake,  in  order  to  direct  them 
to  the  right  one. 

This  is  not  an  attempt  to  explain  why  the 
grave  of  Jesus  was  empty.  This  is  a  denial 
of  the  fact  that  His  grave  was  empty.  How 
this  man  learned  that  Joseph  of  Arimathea 
had  more  than  one  sepulchre  in  his  garden,  I 
do  not  know.  That  the  women  who  were  “sit¬ 
ting  over  against  the  sepulchre”  (Matt.  27: 
61) ,  while  Jesus  was  buried,  should  fail  to  find 
the  right  one  Sunday  morning,  even  if  there 
were  more  than  one  sepulchre  there,  seems  a 
little  too  strange.  Peter  and  John  must  have 
made  the  same  mistake.  This  is  not  all.  The 
Jewish  leaders  must  have  forgotten  which 
sepulchre  Jesus  had  been  laid  in  and  stationed 
the  guard  at  the  wrong  one.  Truly  strange 
that  an  empty  grave  should  have  given  the 
soldiers  so  great  a  scare! 


116 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


Why  cannot  those  who  deny  the  resurrec¬ 
tion  of  Jesus  find  proofs  against  it?  They  try 
hard  enough;  yet  the  very  arguments  which 
they  adduce  to  sustain  their  denial,  must  con¬ 
vince  the  unprejudiced  and  thinking  person 
that  the  truth  must  be  against  them,  for  there 
is  no  evidence  on  their  side.  The  evidence  is 
all  on  the  other  side.  This  shows  conclusively 
that  Jesus  truly  rose  from  the  dead  on  the  third 
day  after  His  crucifixion  and  death. 

The  objectors  examined  so  far,  have  recog¬ 
nized  the  necessity  of  giving  some  kind  of  an 
explanation  of  why  the  grave  of  Jesus  was 
empty  Easter  morning.  The  other  class  of 
those  who  deny  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  do 
not  trouble  themselves  about  this.  They  deny 
the  resurrection  purely  from  speculative  rea¬ 
sons.  Now  speculation  or  philosophy  has  a 
large  and  valid  work  to  perform  as  long  as 
it  clings  to  facts.  When  it  ignores  facts, 
which  unmistakably  show  the  speculations  to 
be  false,  then  philosophy  becomes  worthless  as 
a  guide  to  truth.  It  may  show  considerable 
ingenuity  and  a  very  fertile  imagination;  it 
may  be  interesting,  even  amusing;  but  as  a 
guide  to  truth  it  becomes  worthless. 

Some  have  denied  the  Resurrection  of  Je- 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


117 


sus  for  the  reason  that  He  did  not  have  a  hu¬ 
man  body,  others  for  the  reason  that  there  was 
nothing  divine  about  Him ;  He  was  all  human. 
Altho  the  records  show  that  the  report  of 
Mary  Magdalene  was  not  believed  by  the 
Apostles  and  disciples,  yet  for  ages  some  have 
affirmed  that  the  belief  in  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus  is  due  to  her.  It  is  said  that  she  either 
imagined  that  she  saw  Jesus,  risen  from  the 
dead,  or  that  she  wilfully  fabricated  the  story 
that  she  saw  Him.  Some  say  the  Apostles 
and  disciples  believed  the  resurrection  for  the 
reason  that  they  imagined  that  they  saw  Him 
alive  after  death.  It  was  all  an  illusion  or  a 
hallucination.  There  was  nothing  real  about 
it.  To  accomplish  their  ends  these  objectors 
are  compelled  to  declare  the  sacred  records 
wrong  in  nearly  every  respect;  yet  such  un¬ 
bounded  confidence  have  they  in  their  own 
speculation  that  they  even  pretend  to  show 
that  they  know  more  about  what  really  hap¬ 
pened  than  did  friends  and  foes  of  Jesus  who 
were  on  the  ground  when  the  events  occurred ! 
The  sacred  records  tell  us  what  the  Apostles 
preached  and  what  the  Church  accepted  as* 


*  Unbelieving  critics  have  tried  to  discredit  the  greater 
part  of  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  by  claiming  that 
these  books  were  not  Written  by  the  men  whose  names  they 


118 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


true  at  the  time  when  active  opposition  was 
strenuously  made  by  those  who  were  in  a  po¬ 
sition  to  disprove  the  Apostolic  teaching 3  if 
it  had  been  possible  to  disprove  the  resurrec¬ 
tion  of  Jesus.  The  opponents  of  the  resurrec¬ 
tion  have  the  facts  against  them,  but  they  dis¬ 
regard  the  facts*  Yes,  so  incredibly  reckless 
with  regards  to  facts  have  some  of  them  be¬ 
come,  that  they  claim  the  idea  of  Christ’s  rising 
from  the  dead  has  sprung  from  observing  that 
Spring  overcomes  Winter. 

Those  who  teach  that  there  is  nothing  more 
in  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  than  that  His  soul 
or  that  His  personality  continued  to  exist 


bear,  but  by  other  men  and  at  a  later  date.  As  their  argu¬ 
ments  rest  on  prejudice  and  not  on  facts,  they  have  failed 
to  establish  their  claims.  What  I  desire  to  call  attention  to 
in  this  connection,  however,  is  that  even  if  they  had  succeeded 
in  proving  that  the  books  in  question  were  written  in  the 
second  century,  it  would  not  materially  change  the  evidence 
for  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  for  the  following  reasons: 

1.  The  books  of  the  New  Testament  which  radical  critics 
are  constrained  to  admit  genuine,  definitely  state  that  Jesus 
arose  from  the  dead  on  the  third  day. 

2.  The  Christian  Church  was  founded  thru  the  oral  'preach¬ 
ing  of  the  apostles.  This  is  true  not  only  of  the  congrega¬ 
tions  in  the  Holy  Land,  but  of  all  the  churches  founded  by 
the  Apostles,  and  they  founded  churches  in  practically  all  the 
countries  bordering  on  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  Now  it  must 
be  a  fact,  self-evident  to  all,  that  since  the  Christian  churches 
everywhere  at  once  accepted  the  books  of  the  New  Testament 
as  authoritative,  these  books  presented  the  Christian  truths, 
historically  and  dogmatically,  just  as  the  Apostles  had  pre¬ 
sented  them  in  their  oral  preaching,  when  they  founded  these 
churches. 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


119 


apart  from  the  body  after  His  death,  tho  they 
may  maintain  that  He  sent  messages  or  tele¬ 
grams  from  heaven  to  His  Apostles,  yes,  even 
tho  they  admit  that  He  appeared  to  His 
Apostles  as  a  spirit  or  ghost,  deny  His  resur¬ 
rection  and  have  every  shred  of  evidence  and 
all  the  testimony  of  the  Apostles  against  them. 

VI.  The  Continued  Ernst ence  of  the  Christian 
Church  Shows  that  Christ  Must  have 
Risen  from  the  Dead 

Christ  declared  that  the  gates  of  hell  should 
not  be  able  to  prevail  over  the  church  which 
He  would  found.  This  church  was  founded 
amid  seemingly  insurmountable  difficulties. 
But  the  difficulties  continued,  we  could  say, 
increased.  The  different  local  churches  or 
congregations  had,  to  begin  with,  no  organiza¬ 
tion  thru  which  the  one  could  help  the  other. 
They  were  without  any  visible  head.  The  only 
head  they  recognized  was  the  risen  Jesus,  en¬ 
throned  on  the  right  hand  of  the  F ather.  That 
He  actually  had  risen,  that  He  actually  guided 
and  protected  His  weak  and  scattered  flocks 
must  be  evident  to  anyone  who  has  studied 
even  cursorily  the  history  of  the  Christian 


120 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


Church.  It  may  help  to  show  how  truly  won¬ 
derful  it  is  that  the  church  has  continued  to 
exist,  yes  constantly  spread,  to  notice  the  fol¬ 
lowing  experiment  of  establishing  a  religion, 
tried  in  F ranee  during  the  F rench  Revolution : 

“After  some  trial  had  been  made  of  atheism 
and  irreligion,  and  when  the  want  of  public 
worship  was  felt  by  many  reflecting  persons, 
a  society  was  formed  for  the  worship  of  God, 
upon  the  pure  principles  of  Natural  Religion. 
Among  the  patrons  of  this  society  were  men 
beloved  for  their  philanthropy,  and  distin¬ 
guished  for  their  learning,  and  some  high  in 
power. 

“La  Revelliere  Lepaux,  one  of  the  directory 
of  France,  was  a  zealous  patron  of  the  new 
religion.  By  his  influence,  permission  was 
obtained  to  make  use  of  the  churches  for  their 
worship.  In  the  city  of  Paris  alone,  eighteen 
or  twenty  were  assigned  to  them,  among  which 
was  the  cathedral  church  of  Notre  Dame. 

“Their  creed  was  simple,  consisting  of  two 
great  articles,  the  existence  of  God ,  and  the 
immortality  of  the  soul .  Their  moral  system 
also  embraced  two  great  principles,  the  love  of 
God ,  and  the  love  of  man;  which  were  indi¬ 
cated  by  the  name  Theophilanthropists.  Their 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


121 


worship  consisted  of  prayers  and  hymns  of 
praise,  which  were  comprehended  in  a  manual 
prepared  for  a  directory  in  worship.  Lectures 
were  delivered  by  the  members,  which,  how¬ 
ever,  underwent  the  inspection  of  the  society, 
before  they  were  pronounced  in  public.  To 
these  were  added  some  simple  ceremonies,  such 
as  placing  a  basket  of  fruit  and  flowers  on  the 
altar.  Music,  vocal  and  instrumental,  was 
used;  for  the  latter,  they  availed  themselves 
of  the  organs  in  the  churches.  Great  efforts 
were  made  to  have  this  worship  generally  in¬ 
troduced  in  all  the  principal  towns  in  France ; 
and  the  views  of  the  society  were  even  ex¬ 
tended  to  foreign  countries.  Their  manual 
was  sent  into  all  parts  of  the  republic  by  the 
minister  of  the  interior  free  of  expense. 

“Never  did  a  society  enjoy  greater  advan¬ 
tages  at  its  commencement.  Christianity  had 
been  rejected  with  scorn;  atheism  had  for  a 
short  time  been  tried,  but  was  found  to  be 
intolerable;  the  government  was  favorable  to 
the  project;  men  of  learning  and  influence 
patronized  it,  and  churches  ready  built  were 
at  the  service  of  the  new  denomination.  The 
system  of  Natural  Religion  which  was  adopt¬ 
ed,  was  the  best  that  could  have  been  selected, 


122 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


and  considerable  wisdom  was  discovered  in  the 
construction  of  their  liturgy.  But  with  all 
these  circumstances  in  their  favor,  the  society 
could  not  subsist.  At  first,  indeed,  while  the 
scene  was  novel,  large  audiences  attended, 
most  of  whom,  however,  were  merely  specta¬ 
tors;  but  in  a  short  time,  they  dwindled  away 
to  such  a  degree,  that  instead  of  occupying 
twenty  churches  in  Paris,  they  needed  only 
four;  and  in  some  of  the  provincial  towns, 
where  they  began  under  the  most  favorable 
auspices,  they  soon  came  to  nothing.  Thus 
they  went  on  declining  until,  under  the  con¬ 
sular  government,  they  were  prohibited  the 
use  of  the  churches  any  longer;  upon  which 
they  immediately  expired  without  a  struggle, 
and  it  is  believed  that  not  a  vestige  of  the  so¬ 
ciety  now  remains.  .  .  .  They  found  it  impos¬ 
sible  to  raise,  in  some  of  their  societies,  a  sum 
which  every  Christian  congregation,  even  the 
poorest  of  any  sect,  would  have  collected  in 
one  day.  It  is  a  fact,  that  one  of  these  socie¬ 
ties  petitioned  the  government  to  grant  them 
relief  from  a  debt  which  they  had  contracted 
in  providing  the  apparatus  of  their  worship, 
not  amounting  to  more  than  fifty  dollars, 
stating,  that  their  annual  income  did  not  ex- 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


123 


ceed  twenty  dollars.  In  other  towns  their  mu¬ 
sicians  deserted  them,  because  they  were  not 
paid,  and  frequently  no  person  could  be  found 
to  deliver  lectures.”  (Evidences  of  the  authen¬ 
ticity,  etc.,  of  Holy  Scriptures  by  Rev.  Archi¬ 
bald  Alexander,  D.  D.,  page  29-31.,  Ed.  of 
1836.) 

Contrast  the  favorable  circumstances  this 
society  had  with  the  persecutions  against  the 
Christians,  begun  by  Nero  and  continued  more 
or  less  by  Roman  emperors  for  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years.  Christianity  was  outlawed  as 
a  crime  against  the  Roman  state,  and  the  re¬ 
sources  of  the  mighty  empire  were  marshalled 
against  the  Christians,  who  were  put  to  death 
under  the  most  diabolical  torments  the  brain 
of  man  could  invent. 

Contrast  the  teachings  of  the  society  men¬ 
tioned  above  with  the  doctrines  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  church.  Surely  it  ought  not  seem  strange 
to  any  one  that  God  exists ;  that  He  should  be 
loved,  and  that  men  should  love  one  another! 
To  express  the  hope  of  immortality  should 
not  have  destroyed  the  society,  for  the  Chris¬ 
tian  religion  expresses  that  hope  in  no  doubt¬ 
ful  terms.  But  Christianity  teaches  truths 
which  man  does  not  like.  It  postulates  that 


124 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


the  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God;  that 
man  must  be  born  anew ;  that  every  man  is  by 
nature  depraved;  that  the  crucified  Jesus  is 
God;  that  faith  in  Him,  and  not  works,  saves; 
that  even  the  most  wicked  man’s  soul  is  dear 
to  the  heart  of  God,  and  that  he  can  be  saved 
in  the  same  way  and  by  the  same  means  as 
are  needed  for  the  most  righteous  man  to  be 
saved.  Yet  Christianity  has  continued  to 
exist;  it  has  spread;  it  is  today  spreading  fur¬ 
ther  than  ever  before!  Why?  Jesus  is  risen 
from  the  dead.  He  has  all  power  in  heaven 
and  on  earth.  He  is  the  head  of  the  Christian 
Church. 

Not  only  has  Christ  as  head  guarded  the 
church  against  those  who  have  attacked  it  from 
without.  In  all  ages  there  have  been  much 
more  dangerous  enemies,  the  false  teachers 
and  the  traitors  within  the  church.  Yet  the 
fundamental  truths,  as  we  find  them  preached 
by  the  Apostles,  are  yet  preached;  and  the 
sacred  writings,  which  the  Roman  State  tried 
to  destroy,  are  today  circulated  by  the  millions 
annually,  in  hundreds  of  different  languages 
and  dialects.*  Is  this  done  because  the  church 


*  “We  have  the  statistics  of  the  three  Bible  Societies  which 
are  the  largest  producers  and  distributors— -the  British  and 


AN  HISTORICAL  FACT 


125 


is  so  splendidly  organized  and  so  efficiently 
managed  by  any  visible  head?  Is  it  because 
it  presents  so  unified  a  front  against  the  enemy 
and  keeps  its  ranks  so  free  from  hangers-on 
and  Judases?  There  must  be  some  adequate 
explanation  of  this  truly  remarkable  phenom¬ 
enon.  There  is,  indeed.  It  is  this:  Christ 
is  risen.  He  is  the  head  of  His  church.  He 
has  the  power  to  make  good  His  claim:  The 
gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  His 
church . 


Foreign  Bible  Society,  the  American  Bible  Society,  and  the 
National  Bible  Society  of  Scotland.  Their  figures  for  1920 
we  tabulate: 


Year  Bibles 

A.  B.  S .  1920  331,757 

B.  F.  B.  S.  1919-20  770,679 

N.  B.  S.  S.  1920  37,087 

1,139,523 


Test’s  Portions  Total  Issues 
717,319  2,776,325  3,825,401 

700,223  7,045,028  8,515,930 

64,612  2,028,018  2,129,717 

1,482,154  11,849,371  14,471,048 


This  was  a  lean  year.  These  three  Societies  have  issued 
as  many  as  22,400,000  volumes  in  a  year.  It  is  a  fair  esti¬ 
mate  to  say  that  the  total  issues,  in  1920,  from  all  Bible  So¬ 
cieties  and  publishing  houses,  were  25,000,000  volumes  of 
Scriptures.”  (Some  Surprises  from  the  Old  Red  Brick  Bible 
House,  page  9.  American  Bible  Society,  Bible  House,  New 
York  City.) 

“In  how  many  languages  have  the  Scriptures  been  pub¬ 
lished  thruout  the  world?  In  725  languages  and  dialects,  up 
to  the  end  of  1920.  During  the  past  decade  some  complete 
book  of  the  Bible  has  appeared  in  a  new  language  at  the  rate 
of  one  every  six  weeks.”  (Ibid,  page  4.) 


CONCLUSION 


The  resurrection  of  Jesus  on  the  third  day 
is  an  historical  fact.  The  following  summary 
of  evidence,  direct  and  indirect,  for  and  against 
the  resurrection  shows  this  conclusively.  This 
evidence  is  obtained  from  the  testimony  of 
friends  and  foes  of  Jesus,  given  at  the  time 
when  evidence  for  and  against  was  available. 

I.  Evidence  for  the  Resurrection  of  Jesus 

A.  Indirect: 

1  The  empty  grave. 

~  2  The  transformation  of  the  Apostles: 

a)  From  abject  fear  to  heroic  courage. 

b)  From  silence  and  despair  to  preaching  publicly  with 
great  joy  and  absolute  assurance. 

3  The  Roman  guard  fled  from  their  post  of  duty. 

4  The  Jewish  leaders  do  not  charge  the  soldiers  with  neglect 
of  duty. 

5  These  leaders  bribe  the  soldiers  to  spread  a  certain  report. 

6  The  absurdity  of  the  report  these  leaders  caused  to  be 
circulated  in  explanation  of  the  empty  grave. 

7  The  Jewish  leaders  do  not  demand  an  investigation. 

8  Tho  extremely  anxious  to  stop  the  Apostolic  preaching  of 
the  resurrection  of  Jesus,  these  leaders  offer  no  proof 
against  it,  but  try  to  stop  the  preaching  by  using  force. 

9  These  leaders  do  not  definitely  deny  that  Jesus  arose  from 
the  dead  on  the  third  day. 

10  The  Apostolic  message  won  converts  by  the  thousands  in 
Jerusalem  in  spite  of  the  persistent  and  violent  opposition 
of  those  who  had  influence  and  power  enough  to  put  Jesus 
to  death. 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


127 


B.  Direct  evidence  for  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus: 

1  The  report  of  the  Roman  guard.  (Matt.  28:11.) 

2  Jesus  appeared  to  and  spoke  with  Mary  Magdalene  in  the 
morning  of  Easter  Sunday.  (Mark  16:9;  John  20:14.) 

3  Jesus  appeared  to  and  spoke  to  the  other  women  who 
came  to  the  grave  Easter  Sunday.  (Matt.  28:  9.) 

4  Jesus  appeared  to  Simon  Peter  on  Easter  Sunday.  (Luke 
24:34;  I  Cor.  15:6.) 

5  Jesus  joined  the  two  disciples  who  went  to  Emmaus  Easter 
Sunday.  (Luke  24: 13-35.) 

6  Jesus  appeared  to  the  ten  Apostles  and  many  disciples  in 
Jerusalem  Easter  Sunday  in  the  evening.  He  spoke  to 
them,  showed  them  His  hands  and  His  feet,  and  partook 
of  food  in  their  presence.  (Luke  24:36-43.) 

7  Jesus  appeared  to  the  eleven  Apostles  in  Jerusalem  on  the 
first  Sunday  after  Easter.  He  convinced  the  unbelieving 
Thomas  of  the  reality  of  His  resurrection.  (John  20:24-29.) 

8  Jesus  appeared  to  the  seven  Apostles  by  the  Sea  of  Galilee 
and  reinstated  Peter  to  apostleship.  (John  21:1-23.) 

9  Jesus  appeared  to  the  eleven  Apostles  on  a  mount  in  Galilee 
and  gave  them  their  mission.  (Matt.  28:16-20.) 

He  appeared  also  to  more  than  500  disciples.  (I  Cor.  15:17.) 

10  Jesus  appeared  to  Jacob.  (I  Cor.  15:8.) 

11  Jesus  appeared  to  the  eleven  Apostles  at  His  ascension. 
(Acts  1:1-11.) 

12  Jesus  appeared  to  Paul  on  the  way  to  Damascus.  (I  Cor. 
15:9;  Acts  9;  22;  26.) 

II.  Evidence  Against  the  Resurrection 

of  Jesus 

A.  Indirect:  None. 

B.  Direct:  None. 

The  report  that  the  disciples  of  Jesus  stole  the  body  of 
their  Lord,  while  the  guard  was  asleep,  is  not  supported  by 
any  evidence  whatsoever. 


“And  when  I  saw  Him,  I  fell  at  His  feet  as 
dead.  And  He  laid  His  right  hand  upon  me, 


128 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST 


saying  unto  me,  Fear  not;  I  am  the  first  and 
the  last:  I  am  He  that  liveth,  and  was  dead; 
and,  behold,  I  am  alive  for  evermore,  Amen; 
and  have  the  keys  of  hell  and  of  death.”  (Rev. 
1:  17,  18.) 

“Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul;  and  all  that 
is  within  me,  bless  His  holy  name.  Bless  the 
Lord,  O  my  soul,  and  forget  not  all  his  bene¬ 
fits:  Who  forgiveth  all  thine  iniquities;  who 
healeth  all  thy  diseases;  who  redeemeth  thy 
life  from  destruction;  who  crowneth  thee  with 
lovingkindness  and  tender  mercies.”  Amen. 


■ 


Date  Due 


4 


